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<blockquote data-quote="steeldragons" data-source="post: 7289679" data-attributes="member: 92511"><p>I think you have quite a lot, and a beautiful amount it is, of history. You have the major races in their places, both homelands and conquered areas. You have the reasons why they are there. If you want to "flesh out" some of those details, pick a name for some great battle or whole war that led to one set of folk being someplace or some form of magitech being found in one land but not another. </p><p></p><p>I've found, in developing (and endlessly filling in) my own homebrew setting's History, it helps a great deal to bite off manageable chunks...for yourself, I mean.</p><p></p><p>Start, somewhat obviously, with the world's current day. The period of time in which and player characters are going to be dropped. What is happening in/around the world right then? What has happened in the past...ten years? The past fifty? A hundred? What were the major battles/wars, any major migrations (happened and/or still occurring?), big trade deals created -or fallen through, and naturally any particularly rising evil and/or adventurous opportunities that might be goings-on in which a group of PC's might be interested.</p><p></p><p>If there is some major catastrophe that has altered the world in the more distant past, stick that on your timeline somewhere (whenever you like to make sense) and then work on sections in either "Pre-catastrophe" or "Post catastrophe" blocks. As you develop major happenings, stick them on the timeline. Then work on what happened, for example, "from the end of the Battle of Trolls until the election/rise of the current Emperor-elector-guy (and who he/she is).</p><p></p><p>And, really, for history (the more ancient/forgotten, the longer blocks of unknown time and larger amounts of unknown information) just knock out chunks of time that are relevant to what you need. If you don't have any immediate need to figure out what happened 500 years before the current day...then do yourself a favor and just don't bother until you need something.</p><p> </p><p></p><p></p><p>Personal note, I just really dislike "Daggerland." It makes sense. I get it. The continent is shaped like a dagger. But it just rings of "I'm just copying the Sword Coast. But it's not the same thing cuz it's a Dagger!" I know that's not what it is. It's just how it hits my ear/brain. </p><p></p><p>I think the more remote and foreign a land is, the less you need to worry about it until you have players who are trying to go/adventure there. You have, from the above outline, perfectly good and full frameworks with which to begin anything. The Hobgoblins come from the Hordelands, have a powerful militaristic empire making magic techs (do they make guns too?), and being general meanies as hobgoblins are want to do. The extent of their industrialization, the size and scope of their empire, how they are governed, religion, regional cuisine, etc... doesn't really matter unless/until you have players going there and/or want to produce a world setting book or special regional sub-manual for just "The Hordelands."</p><p></p><p>The Isle of Catastrophe, I just have images of a landscape of junkyard mountains and canyons with interspersed landfill swamps of unnatural "magical/alchemical fallout" colored mists and random explosions of mixing magics. Not-Skaven-Ratfolk live there because, well, it's an continental island sized garbage dump...with stringent recycling policies, I'm sure. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" /> </p><p></p><p>The Dark Continent, I have to say, I like a LOT. The ruling class of jackal-headed necromancers (arcanadaemons?) with gnoll minions and poisonous jungles with hidden tribes of Sun elf amazons. Love it! Love everything about it. If I were a player in this setting from the Known World, I would immediately be egging the group on to go there. But, again, until you have need to fill out cities and geographic hazards, personalities and internal strife, the outline you've given for the place is enough for now.</p><p> </p><p></p><p></p><p>Ok. With whom would you like to start? I'd say, since you have taken the effort to come up with this distinct regions of the Republic, and want this as a humano-centric world, how about some physical descriptors for what humans from those regions generally look like? The average/most common hair/eye coloring. Skin tones. How do they dress? You kind of hint at what each region's culture is based around...dig into that a bit more. Maybe a religion or particular holiday/festival important to the region -if not the whole republic.</p><p></p><p>Then do the same for whatever non-humans are in each area. You've already mentioned the distinctions among the various nature-bound gnomish types. After humans, you could flesh out your terrain-gnomes (also love that element of this world, btw, especially the idea of "Wave Gnomes"). </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I see no reason this couldn't be done at any point you choose. Want an "Inner World" beneath your current one? *Poof* Guess what? It's there now. It'll be there whenever you get around to working on it. For now, looks like you have plenty of stuff above ground to work on, but can make notes on elements you'd want to use in the Inner World as they occur to you. Maybe the Hobgoblins (have the access but not the means to take control of it) and the Arcanadaemons (have the means but can't find a suitable access point) are in a race to get to and conquer it, while the humans are even aware of its existence yet...but whoever ends up controlling the Inner World can -quite easily and literally- usurp the Republic and control the human's "Known World."</p><p></p><p>But I digress and that's all distraction. Work on the Known World, then move out in expanding bands to the adjacent lands. Then worry about what's to be found in the Inner World.</p><p></p><p>So there's my twenty-two and a half cents on all of that. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="steeldragons, post: 7289679, member: 92511"] I think you have quite a lot, and a beautiful amount it is, of history. You have the major races in their places, both homelands and conquered areas. You have the reasons why they are there. If you want to "flesh out" some of those details, pick a name for some great battle or whole war that led to one set of folk being someplace or some form of magitech being found in one land but not another. I've found, in developing (and endlessly filling in) my own homebrew setting's History, it helps a great deal to bite off manageable chunks...for yourself, I mean. Start, somewhat obviously, with the world's current day. The period of time in which and player characters are going to be dropped. What is happening in/around the world right then? What has happened in the past...ten years? The past fifty? A hundred? What were the major battles/wars, any major migrations (happened and/or still occurring?), big trade deals created -or fallen through, and naturally any particularly rising evil and/or adventurous opportunities that might be goings-on in which a group of PC's might be interested. If there is some major catastrophe that has altered the world in the more distant past, stick that on your timeline somewhere (whenever you like to make sense) and then work on sections in either "Pre-catastrophe" or "Post catastrophe" blocks. As you develop major happenings, stick them on the timeline. Then work on what happened, for example, "from the end of the Battle of Trolls until the election/rise of the current Emperor-elector-guy (and who he/she is). And, really, for history (the more ancient/forgotten, the longer blocks of unknown time and larger amounts of unknown information) just knock out chunks of time that are relevant to what you need. If you don't have any immediate need to figure out what happened 500 years before the current day...then do yourself a favor and just don't bother until you need something. Personal note, I just really dislike "Daggerland." It makes sense. I get it. The continent is shaped like a dagger. But it just rings of "I'm just copying the Sword Coast. But it's not the same thing cuz it's a Dagger!" I know that's not what it is. It's just how it hits my ear/brain. I think the more remote and foreign a land is, the less you need to worry about it until you have players who are trying to go/adventure there. You have, from the above outline, perfectly good and full frameworks with which to begin anything. The Hobgoblins come from the Hordelands, have a powerful militaristic empire making magic techs (do they make guns too?), and being general meanies as hobgoblins are want to do. The extent of their industrialization, the size and scope of their empire, how they are governed, religion, regional cuisine, etc... doesn't really matter unless/until you have players going there and/or want to produce a world setting book or special regional sub-manual for just "The Hordelands." The Isle of Catastrophe, I just have images of a landscape of junkyard mountains and canyons with interspersed landfill swamps of unnatural "magical/alchemical fallout" colored mists and random explosions of mixing magics. Not-Skaven-Ratfolk live there because, well, it's an continental island sized garbage dump...with stringent recycling policies, I'm sure. ;) The Dark Continent, I have to say, I like a LOT. The ruling class of jackal-headed necromancers (arcanadaemons?) with gnoll minions and poisonous jungles with hidden tribes of Sun elf amazons. Love it! Love everything about it. If I were a player in this setting from the Known World, I would immediately be egging the group on to go there. But, again, until you have need to fill out cities and geographic hazards, personalities and internal strife, the outline you've given for the place is enough for now. Ok. With whom would you like to start? I'd say, since you have taken the effort to come up with this distinct regions of the Republic, and want this as a humano-centric world, how about some physical descriptors for what humans from those regions generally look like? The average/most common hair/eye coloring. Skin tones. How do they dress? You kind of hint at what each region's culture is based around...dig into that a bit more. Maybe a religion or particular holiday/festival important to the region -if not the whole republic. Then do the same for whatever non-humans are in each area. You've already mentioned the distinctions among the various nature-bound gnomish types. After humans, you could flesh out your terrain-gnomes (also love that element of this world, btw, especially the idea of "Wave Gnomes"). I see no reason this couldn't be done at any point you choose. Want an "Inner World" beneath your current one? *Poof* Guess what? It's there now. It'll be there whenever you get around to working on it. For now, looks like you have plenty of stuff above ground to work on, but can make notes on elements you'd want to use in the Inner World as they occur to you. Maybe the Hobgoblins (have the access but not the means to take control of it) and the Arcanadaemons (have the means but can't find a suitable access point) are in a race to get to and conquer it, while the humans are even aware of its existence yet...but whoever ends up controlling the Inner World can -quite easily and literally- usurp the Republic and control the human's "Known World." But I digress and that's all distraction. Work on the Known World, then move out in expanding bands to the adjacent lands. Then worry about what's to be found in the Inner World. So there's my twenty-two and a half cents on all of that. :) [/QUOTE]
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