Homebrew Worlds- What is in YOUR world?
Knightfall
World of Kulan DM
Posted for blackshirt's reference
THE MYTHOLOGY & HISTORY OF KULAN
PART 2 – THE FALLENLANDS
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to Part 2 of my Mythology & History of Kulan documents. This document details the gods and the people of the continent known as The Fallenlands. Unlike Harqual, detailed in Part 1 of the Mythology and History of Kulan, the Fallenlands has a long history, which spans back through the ages. This history has been lost to time and the destruction of the land. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
The Fallenlands came about as result of needing an exotic locale for my players to explore for an ancient artifact. I didn’t want them to simply traverse Harqual, find the artifact, and bring it back. I wanted it to be a quest and a half. The end result was an adventure I entitled “Journey to the Fallenlands”.
Little did I know at the time, how much the Fallenlands would be like two of my favorite D&D campaign settings rolled into one, slightly altered, concept. You see, for the most part, the Fallenlands is a desert continent. From the Mountains of NarsKasis to the edge of the Ong Jungle, it is basically a huge homage to Dark Sun and Al-Qadim.
Ok, it’s a little more complex than that.
The Fallenlands is a hot, humid land where the genies known as the Jann rule huge, impenetrable, stone cities. It is a land where tribes of Kenku, Throkr, and other strange humanoids, such as the Sahne, vie for dominance of the desert wastes. It is home to the City of Cyrad, where isolated, pale-skinned humans struggle to survive against the environment and each other. It is the homeland of a race of noble, vulture-headed humanoids, called the Nagpa, older than any race on Kulan with life spans that even outstretch the shoyir elves of Janardun.
This is the Fallenlands!
THE HISTORY OF THE FALLENLANDS
Very little is known about the history of the Fallenlands beyond the knowledge gathered and hidden by the nagpas. For while they are a good and noble race they do have one secret, which they protect from the other races of the continent. Partly out of pride, but mostly out of shame. Here is the story of the Five Treasures of the Geniekind, which tells of the Fallenlands distant past…
“Long ago during the Age of the Nagpa, the Fallenlands was known by a more regal name, Margoth-Nal. It was during this age that nagpas lived everywhere on this continent, from what is now known as the Sipwi Peninsula to the Ong Jungle beyond the Shield. We, the blessed of Chagnal, ruled the continent with the same grace and dignity that we now rule the Valley of NarsKasis today. During this time the land was covered with lush forests and rolling hills.
During the Age of the Nagpa, the geniekind were unknown to our people considered myths of legend. What is now called the Black Storm Sea was once known as The Endless Water. There were four great nagpa cities under the rule of a single leader known as the Ma-Haukuai with a governor of state for each city. These cities included NarsKasis in the northwest, NarsKwon in the northeast, NarsKwani in the southwest, and the capital city of Chowa in the far south. The Ma-Haukuai ruled over Margoth-Nal from his palace for over a thousand years in relative peace.
But like the scorching sands of the Fallenlands today, time eroded the Age away. A new evil appeared out of the Far Sea in the east. Huge longships filled with hordes of evil humanoids landed on the eastern shores of Margoth-Nal. Among them were such foul creatures as the thasin, bakemono, oni and the ogre mages. They entrenched themselves in our land raiding up and down the coasts of the east and beyond. Out people fought back bravely with the help of our allies, the sahne and the hengeyokai, but the evil hordes were unstoppable.
The Ma-Haukuai pleaded to Chagnal and the other Great Ones for protection but they couldn't come to our aid. The evil gods of the humanoid hordes kept the Great Ones embroiled in a battle in the heavens. All hope seemed lost. The Ma-Haukuai became desperate in his search for an answer to save his people. He knew of the legends of the geniekind. He divined the location of the Elemental Planes in order to locate the geniekind. With only his wits and the hope of his people, the Ma-Haukuai journeyed to the palaces of the four greater races of the genies - the dao, the djinn, the marid, and the efreet.
First he asked the Kahn of the Dao in the Great Dismal Delve. “Help my people, all-powerful Kahn, and I will build you the greatest monument ever constructed out of the finest marble and gems.”
But the Khan simply laughed at him.
Then he went to the Elemental Plane of Air pleading with the Caliphs of the Djinn. “Help my people, all-powerful Lords, and I will build you the greatest airship ever known to the planes.”
But since the djinn could already fly faster than any airship the Caliphs simply ignored him.
Then he went to the Elemental Plane of Water pleading with the Padisha of the Marids. “Help my people, all-powerful Padisha, and I will give you my kingdom's greatest asset. Our Puredrop water crop for the next one thousand years.”
The Padisha hummed and hawed for several days asking all of her advisors. Then she smiled agreeing to help. The Ma-Haukuai was overjoyed. Then the chaotic Padisha simply laughed at him telling him to go away.
Heartbroken, the Ma-Haukuai went to the Elemental Plane of Fire. He had hoped that one of the other geniekind races would have agreed to help him. He had no idea what he could offer the Efreeti Sultan. As he stood trembling before the Sultan within the City of Brass all his hope seemed to slip away. “Oh great and all-powerful Sultan, I have come to you to beg for your help in defending my people from the evil that threatens us.”
“Hmm,” the Sultan glared down at the Ma-Haukuai. “And what can I expect to gain for this help little creature?”
The Ma-Haukuai fell to his knees in desperation. “I give my life over to you to do with as you want.”
“Well,” the Sultan smiled with an evil grin. “This is most unexpected.”
“I beg your pardon, great Sultan? I do not understand.” The Ma-Haukuai was baffled.
“I have been watching you travel from one of my enemies to the next offering little baubles to them. I had expected a similar offer. You surprise me.”
The Efreeti Sultan rose from his fiery throne approaching the Ma-Haukuai. He stood there for what seemed like an eternity to the Ma-Haukuai. Then he laughed with joy. “You don't realize what it means to a genie to be offered the life of a mortal to do with as one pleases. But your life only is not enough. I wish for your servitude to me and the servitude of your ancestors after you for all of eternity!”
“I will grant you what you wish. For I haven't another choice. All I ask is to be allowed to see my people freed of tyranny before I leave them.”
“Done! What a glorious day!” The Sultan laughed for all in the City of Brass to hear.
Now the Sultan was always true to his word sending a huge army of efreet and fire elementals to Margoth-Nal to rain down fire upon the enemies of the Ma-Haukuai. However, the Sultan was also a crafty genie and the armies he sent were careless about the destruction they created during the war. In the end, nothing was left of Margoth-Nal's ancient glory. The Ma-Haukuai knew he had made a horrible mistake.
With the greatest Age in our history over there wasn't anything to stop the Sultan from claiming the continent. Thus, the Age of Fire was born. For thousands of years the efreet ruled the land but didn't preserve it. The forests burned and the lakes and rivers dried up. The efreet built a great city that they called Lafar or City of Fire. The Volcanic Lands formed around the city and the whole continent trembled at the might of the efreet.
Soon, discontent crept into the minds of the five generals that the sultan had sent to conquer Margoth-Nal. Each of them wished to become Kahn over the lands but the Sultan refused. The generals infused rebellion into the efreet of the Fallenlands. They began warring amongst themselves as well as the Sultan's loyal forces. The Sultan could do nothing to stop the warring factions simply cutting them off from the Elemental Plane of Fire in disgust.
The efreet of the Fallenlands chose a new name, the Ragahd, and started to plan to conquer the entire world. One of the generals was chosen for not Kahn but Emperor. The Sultan of the efreet looked upon his fallen people with both rage and shame.
“It was not suppose to be this way!”
The remaining races of the geniekind also looked upon the Fallenlands and were ashamed by the behavior of the fallen efreet.
“We are partly to blame,” sighed the Padisha of the Marids.
“Yes, something must be done,” barked the Kahn of the Dao.
“We must unite to stop the ragahd or they might become powerful enough to destroy us all.” The Caliphs of the Djinn shivered in fear.
Thus it was that the geniekind of the Elemental Planes united into one massive planar army – the djinn, the dao, the marid, the efreet and even the lesser jann. Each race of the geniekind sent a single champion with a treasured artifact of their people to be used in the war against the ragahd.
The djinn sent Watim with the artifact known as the Bow of Wind. The dao sent Harok with the artifact known as the Sword of the Earth. The marid sent Aqual with the artifact known as the Eye of the Storm. The efreet sent Cahn with the artifact known as the Ring of Eternal Fire. And the jann sent Pavot with the artifact known as the Circle of Truth. These five artifacts would become known as The Five Treasures of the Geniekind.
Even against these artifacts, however, the ragahd refused to surrender. They recruited the aid of the scattered remnants of the evil humanoids against the planar army of genies. The battles were fought and horribly bloody on both sides. In the end, the ragahd retreated to Abyss on the Outer Planes. The genies had won but the Fallenlands would pay the price. To keep the ragahd from reclaiming the Fallenlands, the five treasures were hidden all over Kulan to provide a powerful magical ward that would prohibit the ragahd from ever returning.
The great army of geniekind left the world vowing never again to interfere directly in the world's history ever again. Only the small number of jann left, after the war, remained behind to safeguard the continent. They helped the nagpas rebuild what they could, watching over them and the other races like protective parents. Thus began the Age of Isolation, which has continued unto today.”
The continent once known as Margoth-Nal, by the telling of this story has a history spanning back thousands of years. Most who have heard it beyond the Great Library of Knowledge in the City of Craloona believe the story to be an exaggeration of the Fallenlands history. The trouble is so few non-nagpas have heard the story beyond the jann, and neither of those two races are willing to go into more detail about the Fallenlands past.
Most believe the Age of the Nagpa began only over 2,000 years ago not 3,000 to 4,000 years ago, as the nagpas would have others believe. However, nagpas are an extremely long-lived race and it isn’t inconceivable that the story tells the truth.
It is for certain that the Age of the Nagpa lasted nearly 1,000 years before the first of the invading armies arrived on the eastern shores of Margoth-Nal. These armies came from the continent of Kanpur, which lies closest to the Fallenlands, across the Far Sea. They landed southeastern coast and quickly spread into the Ong Jungle and the lands surrounding the Shield. [A 500-foot high cliff face, which separates Decamwa (called the Endless Sands by the jann) from the Verdant Lands of the southeast].
Age of Fire
Most mark the Age of Fire from the beginning of the war with the invading humanoids not after the geniekind became involved. It is believed the story of the Ma-Haukuai traveling to the Elemental Planes is a huge exaggeration of the true events surrounding the involvement of the efreet in the Invader’s War, as it was called. The humanoids from Kanpur were not so much invading the Fallenlands, as they were fleeing the conflicts raging across southern Kanpur at the time. These conflicts stretched across many southern lands of Kanpur including Khemit and Zakhara, as well as the region later known as the Dark Continent. It was also these conflicts which led to the downfall of the region now known as the Ruined Kingdoms.
But enough about Kanpur, that’s for another document.
The Age of Fire is believed to have lasted nearly 200 years, as the Invader’s War raged across the Fallenlands consuming the great nagpa civilization. The efreet came to exact vengeance on the humanoids and they allied with the nagpa to do so. Allies of opportunity, it is said. The nagpas would have been better off fighting the humanoids on their own. The efreet betrayed the nagpas and their allies after defeating the bulk of the humanoids.
They also betrayed themselves to the dark forces of the Outer Planes. They compacted with powerful demons, using them to subjugate the races of the Fallenlands. This was the beginning of the end of their lives, as members of the races of the geniekind. They became the Ragahd and looked to spread their dark power across all of Kulan. This transformation did not go unnoticed by the Sultan of the Efreet and he swore vengeance on those who had betrayed him. It is not certain how the other races of the geniekind became involved but most point to the story and the pleadings of the Ma-Haukuai.
The Age of Fire ended with the destruction of more of the once great land of Margoth-Nal, that name now not used by any except the nagpas. The ragahd fought for every acre of the continent before fleeing to the Lower Planes. Now, they exist as a race of elemental demons, mainly in the Abyss although they can be found living amongst the denizens of Limbo and Pandemonium as well.
Age of Isolation
It was just before the beginning of the Age of Isolation that a group of humans arrived on the Fallenlands to explore the land for the glory of Khemit. These people soon found themselves trapped on a harsh, wind swept continent, cutoff from their homeland, and surrounded by hostile humanoids. These humans found and retreated into a deep crevasse in the earth, which is now known as Shapneka. Here they found an abandoned city underground built by an unknown race claiming it as their own. They renamed it the City of Cyrad, in honor of the man who had led them to relative safety in Shapneka.
Their society quickly degenerated as old stories of Khemit were lost and the cyradi people began worshipping the gods of the lost race who had built the city. An ancient evil was uncovered and the cyradi soon fell into madness. Now, they exist mainly in a dreamlike state, while the followers of the Demon Worm work them to death.
The Age of Isolation began nearly 1,000 years ago around the time human barbarians first began appearing in the Northlands of Harqual, give or take a few centuries. Exact dates from this time period are not known, as the Fallenlands became next to impossible to reach by sea or by air. A huge, never ending storm appeared around the Fallenlands from its northern shores to beyond the tip of the Ong Peninsula. The most powerful of these storms thundered in the western ocean beyond the Fallenlands, which would become known as the Black Storm Sea to those living on Harqual. (Called the Endless Water by the nagpas.)
The Age of Isolation brought the rise of the jann as a major power across the Fallenlands. Their great stone cities rose out of the ashes of the remains of the once proud nagpa civilization and the mark of destruction left by the ragahd. The jann were left to guard the Fallenlands and the locations of the Five Treasures of the Geniekind, but they have become more concerned with the former than the later. The jann are every watchful over the other races of the Fallenlands but not to protect them but to protect the world from them. The jann begrudgingly respect the nagpas and the nomadic sahne. However, they have little tolerance for the other races.
Surprisingly, while the jann are the dominant power of the Fallenlands they are not its masters. The harsh land is the master and it takes a heavy toil on those who do not respect its power. No more so is this evident then the region of the Fallenlands known as the Volcanic Lands. This highly unstable region has, until recently, in ages past been a scorched, black magma-filled region near the center of the Fallenlands. It was here where the conquering efreet built the great city known as Lafar or City of Fire.
The city still stands to this day and was the hiding places of the artifact known as the Bow of Wind. Now, that artifact has disappeared along with its guardian. It is said that a group of adventurers, from another land, entered Lafar to claim the artifact but came out with nothing for their efforts. The adventurers soon disappeared from the lands of the Fallenlands. Stranger still the powerful storms protecting the Fallenlands have faded and the lands around Lafar have become more inert. It is believed that the adventurers somehow broke the magical ward placed to keep the ragahd from returning to Kulan. Whether or not they also took the Bow of Wind and lied about finding it remains to be seen.
A New Age Begins
The Age of Isolation has ceased for the continent known as the Fallenlands. The seas are now open to the rest of the world and many have taken notice. In the east, explorers from Khemit and Zakhara have begun to slowly traverse across the Far Sea to the southern lands of the Ong Peninsula. While, to the north of Khemit, the great cities of Bluffside and Parma have sent their own expeditions to the New Land to the west. Conflicts amongst these new invaders and the locales of the Fallenlands are bound to happen sooner or later.
Far to the south past the Wakuna Sea lies the Islands of Merria home to numerous seafaring kingdoms and even more pirates. Long prevented from expanding their reach by the storms protecting the Fallenlands, now the southern shores of the lost continent are open to them. No longer are humans, rakasta, and other notable races unknown in the ports of call of the Fallenlands, although they are still quite rare.
And in their stone cities, the jann watch and wait for the eventual return of the ragahd to the Fallenlands and they wonder if anything can be done to stop the elemental demons.
THE MYTHOLOGY & HISTORY OF KULAN
PART 2 – THE FALLENLANDS
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to Part 2 of my Mythology & History of Kulan documents. This document details the gods and the people of the continent known as The Fallenlands. Unlike Harqual, detailed in Part 1 of the Mythology and History of Kulan, the Fallenlands has a long history, which spans back through the ages. This history has been lost to time and the destruction of the land. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
The Fallenlands came about as result of needing an exotic locale for my players to explore for an ancient artifact. I didn’t want them to simply traverse Harqual, find the artifact, and bring it back. I wanted it to be a quest and a half. The end result was an adventure I entitled “Journey to the Fallenlands”.
Little did I know at the time, how much the Fallenlands would be like two of my favorite D&D campaign settings rolled into one, slightly altered, concept. You see, for the most part, the Fallenlands is a desert continent. From the Mountains of NarsKasis to the edge of the Ong Jungle, it is basically a huge homage to Dark Sun and Al-Qadim.
Ok, it’s a little more complex than that.
The Fallenlands is a hot, humid land where the genies known as the Jann rule huge, impenetrable, stone cities. It is a land where tribes of Kenku, Throkr, and other strange humanoids, such as the Sahne, vie for dominance of the desert wastes. It is home to the City of Cyrad, where isolated, pale-skinned humans struggle to survive against the environment and each other. It is the homeland of a race of noble, vulture-headed humanoids, called the Nagpa, older than any race on Kulan with life spans that even outstretch the shoyir elves of Janardun.
This is the Fallenlands!
THE HISTORY OF THE FALLENLANDS
Very little is known about the history of the Fallenlands beyond the knowledge gathered and hidden by the nagpas. For while they are a good and noble race they do have one secret, which they protect from the other races of the continent. Partly out of pride, but mostly out of shame. Here is the story of the Five Treasures of the Geniekind, which tells of the Fallenlands distant past…
“Long ago during the Age of the Nagpa, the Fallenlands was known by a more regal name, Margoth-Nal. It was during this age that nagpas lived everywhere on this continent, from what is now known as the Sipwi Peninsula to the Ong Jungle beyond the Shield. We, the blessed of Chagnal, ruled the continent with the same grace and dignity that we now rule the Valley of NarsKasis today. During this time the land was covered with lush forests and rolling hills.
During the Age of the Nagpa, the geniekind were unknown to our people considered myths of legend. What is now called the Black Storm Sea was once known as The Endless Water. There were four great nagpa cities under the rule of a single leader known as the Ma-Haukuai with a governor of state for each city. These cities included NarsKasis in the northwest, NarsKwon in the northeast, NarsKwani in the southwest, and the capital city of Chowa in the far south. The Ma-Haukuai ruled over Margoth-Nal from his palace for over a thousand years in relative peace.
But like the scorching sands of the Fallenlands today, time eroded the Age away. A new evil appeared out of the Far Sea in the east. Huge longships filled with hordes of evil humanoids landed on the eastern shores of Margoth-Nal. Among them were such foul creatures as the thasin, bakemono, oni and the ogre mages. They entrenched themselves in our land raiding up and down the coasts of the east and beyond. Out people fought back bravely with the help of our allies, the sahne and the hengeyokai, but the evil hordes were unstoppable.
The Ma-Haukuai pleaded to Chagnal and the other Great Ones for protection but they couldn't come to our aid. The evil gods of the humanoid hordes kept the Great Ones embroiled in a battle in the heavens. All hope seemed lost. The Ma-Haukuai became desperate in his search for an answer to save his people. He knew of the legends of the geniekind. He divined the location of the Elemental Planes in order to locate the geniekind. With only his wits and the hope of his people, the Ma-Haukuai journeyed to the palaces of the four greater races of the genies - the dao, the djinn, the marid, and the efreet.
First he asked the Kahn of the Dao in the Great Dismal Delve. “Help my people, all-powerful Kahn, and I will build you the greatest monument ever constructed out of the finest marble and gems.”
But the Khan simply laughed at him.
Then he went to the Elemental Plane of Air pleading with the Caliphs of the Djinn. “Help my people, all-powerful Lords, and I will build you the greatest airship ever known to the planes.”
But since the djinn could already fly faster than any airship the Caliphs simply ignored him.
Then he went to the Elemental Plane of Water pleading with the Padisha of the Marids. “Help my people, all-powerful Padisha, and I will give you my kingdom's greatest asset. Our Puredrop water crop for the next one thousand years.”
The Padisha hummed and hawed for several days asking all of her advisors. Then she smiled agreeing to help. The Ma-Haukuai was overjoyed. Then the chaotic Padisha simply laughed at him telling him to go away.
Heartbroken, the Ma-Haukuai went to the Elemental Plane of Fire. He had hoped that one of the other geniekind races would have agreed to help him. He had no idea what he could offer the Efreeti Sultan. As he stood trembling before the Sultan within the City of Brass all his hope seemed to slip away. “Oh great and all-powerful Sultan, I have come to you to beg for your help in defending my people from the evil that threatens us.”
“Hmm,” the Sultan glared down at the Ma-Haukuai. “And what can I expect to gain for this help little creature?”
The Ma-Haukuai fell to his knees in desperation. “I give my life over to you to do with as you want.”
“Well,” the Sultan smiled with an evil grin. “This is most unexpected.”
“I beg your pardon, great Sultan? I do not understand.” The Ma-Haukuai was baffled.
“I have been watching you travel from one of my enemies to the next offering little baubles to them. I had expected a similar offer. You surprise me.”
The Efreeti Sultan rose from his fiery throne approaching the Ma-Haukuai. He stood there for what seemed like an eternity to the Ma-Haukuai. Then he laughed with joy. “You don't realize what it means to a genie to be offered the life of a mortal to do with as one pleases. But your life only is not enough. I wish for your servitude to me and the servitude of your ancestors after you for all of eternity!”
“I will grant you what you wish. For I haven't another choice. All I ask is to be allowed to see my people freed of tyranny before I leave them.”
“Done! What a glorious day!” The Sultan laughed for all in the City of Brass to hear.
Now the Sultan was always true to his word sending a huge army of efreet and fire elementals to Margoth-Nal to rain down fire upon the enemies of the Ma-Haukuai. However, the Sultan was also a crafty genie and the armies he sent were careless about the destruction they created during the war. In the end, nothing was left of Margoth-Nal's ancient glory. The Ma-Haukuai knew he had made a horrible mistake.
With the greatest Age in our history over there wasn't anything to stop the Sultan from claiming the continent. Thus, the Age of Fire was born. For thousands of years the efreet ruled the land but didn't preserve it. The forests burned and the lakes and rivers dried up. The efreet built a great city that they called Lafar or City of Fire. The Volcanic Lands formed around the city and the whole continent trembled at the might of the efreet.
Soon, discontent crept into the minds of the five generals that the sultan had sent to conquer Margoth-Nal. Each of them wished to become Kahn over the lands but the Sultan refused. The generals infused rebellion into the efreet of the Fallenlands. They began warring amongst themselves as well as the Sultan's loyal forces. The Sultan could do nothing to stop the warring factions simply cutting them off from the Elemental Plane of Fire in disgust.
The efreet of the Fallenlands chose a new name, the Ragahd, and started to plan to conquer the entire world. One of the generals was chosen for not Kahn but Emperor. The Sultan of the efreet looked upon his fallen people with both rage and shame.
“It was not suppose to be this way!”
The remaining races of the geniekind also looked upon the Fallenlands and were ashamed by the behavior of the fallen efreet.
“We are partly to blame,” sighed the Padisha of the Marids.
“Yes, something must be done,” barked the Kahn of the Dao.
“We must unite to stop the ragahd or they might become powerful enough to destroy us all.” The Caliphs of the Djinn shivered in fear.
Thus it was that the geniekind of the Elemental Planes united into one massive planar army – the djinn, the dao, the marid, the efreet and even the lesser jann. Each race of the geniekind sent a single champion with a treasured artifact of their people to be used in the war against the ragahd.
The djinn sent Watim with the artifact known as the Bow of Wind. The dao sent Harok with the artifact known as the Sword of the Earth. The marid sent Aqual with the artifact known as the Eye of the Storm. The efreet sent Cahn with the artifact known as the Ring of Eternal Fire. And the jann sent Pavot with the artifact known as the Circle of Truth. These five artifacts would become known as The Five Treasures of the Geniekind.
Even against these artifacts, however, the ragahd refused to surrender. They recruited the aid of the scattered remnants of the evil humanoids against the planar army of genies. The battles were fought and horribly bloody on both sides. In the end, the ragahd retreated to Abyss on the Outer Planes. The genies had won but the Fallenlands would pay the price. To keep the ragahd from reclaiming the Fallenlands, the five treasures were hidden all over Kulan to provide a powerful magical ward that would prohibit the ragahd from ever returning.
The great army of geniekind left the world vowing never again to interfere directly in the world's history ever again. Only the small number of jann left, after the war, remained behind to safeguard the continent. They helped the nagpas rebuild what they could, watching over them and the other races like protective parents. Thus began the Age of Isolation, which has continued unto today.”
The continent once known as Margoth-Nal, by the telling of this story has a history spanning back thousands of years. Most who have heard it beyond the Great Library of Knowledge in the City of Craloona believe the story to be an exaggeration of the Fallenlands history. The trouble is so few non-nagpas have heard the story beyond the jann, and neither of those two races are willing to go into more detail about the Fallenlands past.
Most believe the Age of the Nagpa began only over 2,000 years ago not 3,000 to 4,000 years ago, as the nagpas would have others believe. However, nagpas are an extremely long-lived race and it isn’t inconceivable that the story tells the truth.
It is for certain that the Age of the Nagpa lasted nearly 1,000 years before the first of the invading armies arrived on the eastern shores of Margoth-Nal. These armies came from the continent of Kanpur, which lies closest to the Fallenlands, across the Far Sea. They landed southeastern coast and quickly spread into the Ong Jungle and the lands surrounding the Shield. [A 500-foot high cliff face, which separates Decamwa (called the Endless Sands by the jann) from the Verdant Lands of the southeast].
Age of Fire
Most mark the Age of Fire from the beginning of the war with the invading humanoids not after the geniekind became involved. It is believed the story of the Ma-Haukuai traveling to the Elemental Planes is a huge exaggeration of the true events surrounding the involvement of the efreet in the Invader’s War, as it was called. The humanoids from Kanpur were not so much invading the Fallenlands, as they were fleeing the conflicts raging across southern Kanpur at the time. These conflicts stretched across many southern lands of Kanpur including Khemit and Zakhara, as well as the region later known as the Dark Continent. It was also these conflicts which led to the downfall of the region now known as the Ruined Kingdoms.
But enough about Kanpur, that’s for another document.
The Age of Fire is believed to have lasted nearly 200 years, as the Invader’s War raged across the Fallenlands consuming the great nagpa civilization. The efreet came to exact vengeance on the humanoids and they allied with the nagpa to do so. Allies of opportunity, it is said. The nagpas would have been better off fighting the humanoids on their own. The efreet betrayed the nagpas and their allies after defeating the bulk of the humanoids.
They also betrayed themselves to the dark forces of the Outer Planes. They compacted with powerful demons, using them to subjugate the races of the Fallenlands. This was the beginning of the end of their lives, as members of the races of the geniekind. They became the Ragahd and looked to spread their dark power across all of Kulan. This transformation did not go unnoticed by the Sultan of the Efreet and he swore vengeance on those who had betrayed him. It is not certain how the other races of the geniekind became involved but most point to the story and the pleadings of the Ma-Haukuai.
The Age of Fire ended with the destruction of more of the once great land of Margoth-Nal, that name now not used by any except the nagpas. The ragahd fought for every acre of the continent before fleeing to the Lower Planes. Now, they exist as a race of elemental demons, mainly in the Abyss although they can be found living amongst the denizens of Limbo and Pandemonium as well.
Age of Isolation
It was just before the beginning of the Age of Isolation that a group of humans arrived on the Fallenlands to explore the land for the glory of Khemit. These people soon found themselves trapped on a harsh, wind swept continent, cutoff from their homeland, and surrounded by hostile humanoids. These humans found and retreated into a deep crevasse in the earth, which is now known as Shapneka. Here they found an abandoned city underground built by an unknown race claiming it as their own. They renamed it the City of Cyrad, in honor of the man who had led them to relative safety in Shapneka.
Their society quickly degenerated as old stories of Khemit were lost and the cyradi people began worshipping the gods of the lost race who had built the city. An ancient evil was uncovered and the cyradi soon fell into madness. Now, they exist mainly in a dreamlike state, while the followers of the Demon Worm work them to death.
The Age of Isolation began nearly 1,000 years ago around the time human barbarians first began appearing in the Northlands of Harqual, give or take a few centuries. Exact dates from this time period are not known, as the Fallenlands became next to impossible to reach by sea or by air. A huge, never ending storm appeared around the Fallenlands from its northern shores to beyond the tip of the Ong Peninsula. The most powerful of these storms thundered in the western ocean beyond the Fallenlands, which would become known as the Black Storm Sea to those living on Harqual. (Called the Endless Water by the nagpas.)
The Age of Isolation brought the rise of the jann as a major power across the Fallenlands. Their great stone cities rose out of the ashes of the remains of the once proud nagpa civilization and the mark of destruction left by the ragahd. The jann were left to guard the Fallenlands and the locations of the Five Treasures of the Geniekind, but they have become more concerned with the former than the later. The jann are every watchful over the other races of the Fallenlands but not to protect them but to protect the world from them. The jann begrudgingly respect the nagpas and the nomadic sahne. However, they have little tolerance for the other races.
Surprisingly, while the jann are the dominant power of the Fallenlands they are not its masters. The harsh land is the master and it takes a heavy toil on those who do not respect its power. No more so is this evident then the region of the Fallenlands known as the Volcanic Lands. This highly unstable region has, until recently, in ages past been a scorched, black magma-filled region near the center of the Fallenlands. It was here where the conquering efreet built the great city known as Lafar or City of Fire.
The city still stands to this day and was the hiding places of the artifact known as the Bow of Wind. Now, that artifact has disappeared along with its guardian. It is said that a group of adventurers, from another land, entered Lafar to claim the artifact but came out with nothing for their efforts. The adventurers soon disappeared from the lands of the Fallenlands. Stranger still the powerful storms protecting the Fallenlands have faded and the lands around Lafar have become more inert. It is believed that the adventurers somehow broke the magical ward placed to keep the ragahd from returning to Kulan. Whether or not they also took the Bow of Wind and lied about finding it remains to be seen.
A New Age Begins
The Age of Isolation has ceased for the continent known as the Fallenlands. The seas are now open to the rest of the world and many have taken notice. In the east, explorers from Khemit and Zakhara have begun to slowly traverse across the Far Sea to the southern lands of the Ong Peninsula. While, to the north of Khemit, the great cities of Bluffside and Parma have sent their own expeditions to the New Land to the west. Conflicts amongst these new invaders and the locales of the Fallenlands are bound to happen sooner or later.
Far to the south past the Wakuna Sea lies the Islands of Merria home to numerous seafaring kingdoms and even more pirates. Long prevented from expanding their reach by the storms protecting the Fallenlands, now the southern shores of the lost continent are open to them. No longer are humans, rakasta, and other notable races unknown in the ports of call of the Fallenlands, although they are still quite rare.
And in their stone cities, the jann watch and wait for the eventual return of the ragahd to the Fallenlands and they wonder if anything can be done to stop the elemental demons.
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<Unnamed as yet>
Humans, as the first favored children of the gods, have just been abandoned for the sin of dying. Of those that remain immortal--the Heroes--some wish to regain the attention and favor of the gods, some wish to nurture their mortal descendents, and some wish merely not to have to bury their children.
The gods have tried to recreate their perfect, immortal creations/servants. Their first attempt, goblinkind, was a horrific failure. Their second, elves, has met with slightly more success. As the race is only a decade old, it has yet to be discovered that every elf will be stark raving mad before he turns 600. And as they, too, are cursed to die, elves will be abandoned by their gods. How will they take it?
The goddess of skill-at-war as been stripped of form and power, and banished from the material plane until she finds the soul of the first dead human. So far, she's not looking. She likes her new home, having found/formed the Underworld, and is enjoying the company of the most learned and skilled souls. The souls of those who died young are sometimes sculpted into dwarves. Dwarves are the lorekeepers of the dead, and as the personal creations of the goddess of the martial arts, aren't slouches in the physical department either they are also the only new race to be immortal, but only so long as they remain in the Underworld.
Of her three siblings, two are currently nurturing the elves in the arts of sculpture and pearl diving, and the other hasn't been heard from at all.
So, 4 gods, that's all. Martial skill & death; architecture & beauty; "deep places" (caves, knowledge, insanity) & the ocean; "life impulse" (plants, animals, wind) & thievery. So... since the Heroes had been living for approximately 900 with endless life and youth... why did their descendents start dying?
There are no undead, save a dracolich (and soon a vampire of sorts), and most monsters are unique. The fun will begin when humanity stumbles upon the secret of life...
Races are Heroes (immortal humans), humans, elves, dwarves, and goblins. Heroes are aware of humans (and some know of goblins), dwarves are aware of everyone but elves (no elf has died yet), and elves have no idea that there are other sentient races (and no one knows about them).
Heroes ("the people"): static, reactionary, nostalgic shadowy manipulators
humans ("broken" or "defiled"): baseline
elves ("pointy"): pointy pearl-diving pirates
dwarves ("clear eyed"): bookish fighty monks
goblins ("diseased"): slightly slimy, very warty ooze riders
Was Utopia really Utopia? What would you do to regain it?
I wasn't intending it to be that long, but...
Humans, as the first favored children of the gods, have just been abandoned for the sin of dying. Of those that remain immortal--the Heroes--some wish to regain the attention and favor of the gods, some wish to nurture their mortal descendents, and some wish merely not to have to bury their children.
The gods have tried to recreate their perfect, immortal creations/servants. Their first attempt, goblinkind, was a horrific failure. Their second, elves, has met with slightly more success. As the race is only a decade old, it has yet to be discovered that every elf will be stark raving mad before he turns 600. And as they, too, are cursed to die, elves will be abandoned by their gods. How will they take it?
The goddess of skill-at-war as been stripped of form and power, and banished from the material plane until she finds the soul of the first dead human. So far, she's not looking. She likes her new home, having found/formed the Underworld, and is enjoying the company of the most learned and skilled souls. The souls of those who died young are sometimes sculpted into dwarves. Dwarves are the lorekeepers of the dead, and as the personal creations of the goddess of the martial arts, aren't slouches in the physical department either they are also the only new race to be immortal, but only so long as they remain in the Underworld.
Of her three siblings, two are currently nurturing the elves in the arts of sculpture and pearl diving, and the other hasn't been heard from at all.
So, 4 gods, that's all. Martial skill & death; architecture & beauty; "deep places" (caves, knowledge, insanity) & the ocean; "life impulse" (plants, animals, wind) & thievery. So... since the Heroes had been living for approximately 900 with endless life and youth... why did their descendents start dying?
There are no undead, save a dracolich (and soon a vampire of sorts), and most monsters are unique. The fun will begin when humanity stumbles upon the secret of life...
Races are Heroes (immortal humans), humans, elves, dwarves, and goblins. Heroes are aware of humans (and some know of goblins), dwarves are aware of everyone but elves (no elf has died yet), and elves have no idea that there are other sentient races (and no one knows about them).
Heroes ("the people"): static, reactionary, nostalgic shadowy manipulators
humans ("broken" or "defiled"): baseline
elves ("pointy"): pointy pearl-diving pirates
dwarves ("clear eyed"): bookish fighty monks
goblins ("diseased"): slightly slimy, very warty ooze riders
Was Utopia really Utopia? What would you do to regain it?
I wasn't intending it to be that long, but...
Knightfall
World of Kulan DM
el bumpo
The Goblin King
First Post
I took everything I think is cool from my favorite authors, animes, and RPGs. Put them in a blender and made a campaign margartia. It has high tech and high magic (started out as Dragonstar), islands both flying and the ocean kind (I noticed islands are a common theme in this thread), a multitude of races, airships, and tons of white space on the map so I can put in anything I think of later.
s/LaSH
First Post
Dungeon Damage
12th-century Europe... but not yours. Whole ethnicities have been fantasised (elves sacked Rome), there's magic in the air, and history stands on the cusp of events that will change everything...
The Twilight
Imagine a hyperdimensional Dyson Sphere built out of an entire sun. The Twilight is so big I couldn't finish it if I wrote up one nation every minute for the rest of my unresting life. The one region yet designed:
Riftsea Region
Flying desert continents, ion-charged armour, dragon riders and dragon gods who hate them, a cyberdemon invasion (they just want to be loved), angels who want to rebuild an insect ecology over the region, ruins of the Apex Draconis cyberempire, telepathic assault rifles, and orcs who live at the bottom of the ocean. To scratch the surface.
Skyrust
Earth. Mother Nature decided, Screw this, humans are destroying everything; I'd better start over. The sky becomes one large greenhouse, the oceans evaporate, and a thousand years later the last bastion of humanity against the new breed of life is desert nomads roaming around Antarctica. The enemies are weird new creatures that do not bleed; the Earth bleeds upon their death. Think localised vulcanism.
And that's all I'm gonna share right now.
12th-century Europe... but not yours. Whole ethnicities have been fantasised (elves sacked Rome), there's magic in the air, and history stands on the cusp of events that will change everything...
The Twilight
Imagine a hyperdimensional Dyson Sphere built out of an entire sun. The Twilight is so big I couldn't finish it if I wrote up one nation every minute for the rest of my unresting life. The one region yet designed:
Riftsea Region
Flying desert continents, ion-charged armour, dragon riders and dragon gods who hate them, a cyberdemon invasion (they just want to be loved), angels who want to rebuild an insect ecology over the region, ruins of the Apex Draconis cyberempire, telepathic assault rifles, and orcs who live at the bottom of the ocean. To scratch the surface.
Skyrust
Earth. Mother Nature decided, Screw this, humans are destroying everything; I'd better start over. The sky becomes one large greenhouse, the oceans evaporate, and a thousand years later the last bastion of humanity against the new breed of life is desert nomads roaming around Antarctica. The enemies are weird new creatures that do not bleed; the Earth bleeds upon their death. Think localised vulcanism.
And that's all I'm gonna share right now.
The Mirrorball Man
Aventurier
My world is fairly vanilla. Actually, it is so vanilla that it is simply called "the World". I mean, if Lt. Columbo can call his dog "the Dog", I thought I didn't really need to come up with anything original. I'm not as clever as Columbo, after all. 
Ok. So it's fairly vanilla. Well, it's chocolate, really. The World is a D&D world with magic, Dwarves, Elves and Orcs. There are a couple of little twists here and there, but nothing that would cause too much confusion in the fragile mind of a veteran gamer.
My Elves are creatures that well, look like D&D Elves. But like Treants, they're plants, vegetal creatures. Elves can potentially live forever, but their memories only last one or two centuries: long-lived Elves don't remember their childhood. They worship Lanalawalan, a deity made of music, and they believe that it communicates with them throught their emotions. The Elvish Alliance is a small isolationist state dominated by the five Sacred Castes: Melodiarchs, Harmoniarchs, Rhythmarchs, Soundarchs and Silenciarchs, governed by a covert governement called the Secret Council.
My Dwarves also look more or less like D&D Dwarves. But logically enough, they're mineral creatures. They're far more sophisticated than your standard, run of the mill Dwarves, though. They live in a somewhat enlightened democratic state, the Dwarven Republic, and worship a God called Muo. In their religion, Magic is taboo, and Psionic powers are absolutely forbidden. When hundreds of Dwarves get together, they can enter a state of consciousness called the Crystalline Dream, in which they're able to conjure a spiritual entity called an Egregore, which grants them some cool powers.
Elves and Dwarves don't go along well because they share the same Sacred City, Mag Mell, and there's a long and bloody history of each race trying to expel the other from their sacred grounds. Ironically enough, they can breed, and their children are small and short-lived creatures called the Gnomes.
Humans live in a vast and powerful mosaic of 11 independant states called the Reik. Each of these states has a different culture (actually, each of them mirrors one of the character classed from the PHB). The various realms of the Reik are torn apart by permanent civil wars, and by a recent crisis: the new Saint Emperor of the Reik, who is supposed to be the head of the Imperial Religion, is a Shaddaïm, a member of a small and obscure sect. Orcs and Goblins are hunted and enslaved by Humans everywhere. In fact, slavery is the cornerstone of the Human economy.
The emphasis of this little homebrew world is on religion (and that's religions, not Gods or Pantheons). Nobody really knows if Gods exist or not. Some people think that Clerics get their powers from some unknown source of arcane magic. In the World, if you're an atheist, you're totally immune to divine magic (no healing magic for you)...
Ok. So it's fairly vanilla. Well, it's chocolate, really.
The World is a D&D world with magic, Dwarves, Elves and Orcs. There are a couple of little twists here and there, but nothing that would cause too much confusion in the fragile mind of a veteran gamer.My Elves are creatures that well, look like D&D Elves. But like Treants, they're plants, vegetal creatures. Elves can potentially live forever, but their memories only last one or two centuries: long-lived Elves don't remember their childhood. They worship Lanalawalan, a deity made of music, and they believe that it communicates with them throught their emotions. The Elvish Alliance is a small isolationist state dominated by the five Sacred Castes: Melodiarchs, Harmoniarchs, Rhythmarchs, Soundarchs and Silenciarchs, governed by a covert governement called the Secret Council.
My Dwarves also look more or less like D&D Dwarves. But logically enough, they're mineral creatures. They're far more sophisticated than your standard, run of the mill Dwarves, though. They live in a somewhat enlightened democratic state, the Dwarven Republic, and worship a God called Muo. In their religion, Magic is taboo, and Psionic powers are absolutely forbidden. When hundreds of Dwarves get together, they can enter a state of consciousness called the Crystalline Dream, in which they're able to conjure a spiritual entity called an Egregore, which grants them some cool powers.
Elves and Dwarves don't go along well because they share the same Sacred City, Mag Mell, and there's a long and bloody history of each race trying to expel the other from their sacred grounds. Ironically enough, they can breed, and their children are small and short-lived creatures called the Gnomes.
Humans live in a vast and powerful mosaic of 11 independant states called the Reik. Each of these states has a different culture (actually, each of them mirrors one of the character classed from the PHB). The various realms of the Reik are torn apart by permanent civil wars, and by a recent crisis: the new Saint Emperor of the Reik, who is supposed to be the head of the Imperial Religion, is a Shaddaïm, a member of a small and obscure sect. Orcs and Goblins are hunted and enslaved by Humans everywhere. In fact, slavery is the cornerstone of the Human economy.
The emphasis of this little homebrew world is on religion (and that's religions, not Gods or Pantheons). Nobody really knows if Gods exist or not. Some people think that Clerics get their powers from some unknown source of arcane magic. In the World, if you're an atheist, you're totally immune to divine magic (no healing magic for you)...
frankthedm
First Post
Divatros - The Life tree has been felled and a kingdom of magic strains the bonds of reality. The Behemoth and Leviathan move across land and sea. Orcus's undead hand clutches his scepter as the earth vomits his tainted minions. The shadow elves, almost killed by the cataclysm that took thier light loving kin, resurge on an assualt upon the Dwarves, while man is beset upon by feral beastmen and the race of orcs who are falling into degeneracy.
Knightfall
World of Kulan DM
The Mirrorball Man said:
MB M, 'The World' sounds cool. Do you have a website?
The Mirrorball Man
Aventurier
Thank you.Knightfall1972 said:
Unfortunately, no, I don't have a website, and to add insult to injury, The World is written entirely in French. If guess that more or less guarantees that my players and I will be the only people on Earth to enjoy it.
