D&D 5E The Light of Civilization - A 5e Renaissance Story [OOC]

[Jago]

To be fair, Clerical, Bardic, Druidic, Sorcer ... ic. Sorcerous, there we go, these could all be Sanctioned too, I suppose.

Imagine a Sorcerer Philosopher trying to figure out where, exactly, their powers come from, and why some are born with this gift, but others are not? Or a Lore Bard Physicist who is trying to find out why, precisely, the intonation of her voice and the resonance of a lute string creates an effect such as Darkness or Shatter. Or just a Druid who realizes that they either need to get the papers or be hunted down, and that would sure put a stop to them protecting the land from all those loggers who keep cutting down everything around the city to fuel the fires of growing industry.

Granted, these are still pretty Grey areas and again, the reaction to each would probably depend upon the local City-State's views on magic and if that spellcaster is actively helping or harming the people.

Divine Magic ... yeah, bit of a Grey area. The common citizen would love the people who can heal with a touch and wave away the horrifying undead with a flick of their amulet, but there's still Magic in there, something ... different. It's useful, but so is a Wizard, but if the Cleric or Paladin in question was connected to The Church, that would probably put a lot of fears to rest ("Well she's in the service of The Maker, she's doing her work").
Or again, the zealous may see even that as something heretical.

Truly, I think only a Warlock could really not afford to be Sanctioned, as it would only take a little bit of scrying to figure out "Holy Goddess, his magic comes from a for-real Devil." They may be able to hide it for awhile, but not nearly long enough to stay in one place for long.




Although I certainly love the idea of a Wizard sitting in some court, playing the long game and kowtowing to nobility and commoner alike until a Mage can basically take over the whole thing in one fell swoop >.>

 

[Shayuri]

In the name of Science, of course. Because we know that sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.

 

[River Song]

another great sounds historically based d&d game!

Well done, I love the sounds of this.

 

[River Song]

I love the idea of a cataclysm caused by magic and people turning to science.

Are the old deities dead and are most people monotheistic in the city state?

I am picturing Genoa, Florence and Rome in my head at the moment. Centres of art, learning and religion each city-state espousing the virtues of its own way of life and damning (in the case of Rome; quite literally) the others.

 

[Jago]

In the name of Science, of course. Because we know that sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.

Certainly something I plan to toy with. A well-known Scientist makes a breakthrough that nobody else can replicate. Is she really just that brilliant? Or did she have some "help"?

another great sounds historically based d&d game!

Well done, I love the sounds of this.

Thank you! History almost always remains my foremost inspiration for settings and characters. It's always been my favorite subject and I feel there's a ton to explore. A treasure trove of stories in things like this.

I love the idea of a cataclysm caused by magic and people turning to science.

Are the old deities dead and are most people monotheistic in the city state?

I am picturing Genoa, Florence and Rome in my head at the moment. Centres of art, learning and religion each city-state espousing the virtues of its own way of life and damning (in the case of Rome; quite literally) the others.

I'm leaning more and more towards Cataclysm Theory. I feel a war would not be truly destructive enough to make people so suspicious and untrustworthy of any spellcaster that is no actively (and provably) working for the benefit of society. My current idea is that Mages tried to do something bad, either summoned something wrong or "dug too deep" as it were. There were other Mages that managed to prevent the full-on end of the world, earning back a little trust, but ultimately it was the common drive to study magic and figure out how to stop something like this in the future that lead into the Sciences themselves. The people searched for the unknown and began to quantify it, and thus you get the true Wizards. Hell, maybe that's how Wizards even came to be: Philosophers and Physicists that learned how to change the world. Literally.


As for Old Deities, well, they're not dead. Well, not yet. People may still hold certain "pagan" beliefs, but they're more of a cultural remnant than anything truly religious. However, the idea of hidden cults or little temples outside of the Cities still worshiping older gods is certainly viable, and I like this idea: praise The Maker in public, sure, but put on a mask and robe and go into a hidden grove at midnight to conduct a ceremony to some ancient god of vengeance to smite the merchant who cheated you.

The City-States themselves have officially adopted The Church of The Maker, whether out of an actual belief in it or simply because they don't want to make an enemy of the Church itself (and therefore an enemy of pretty much every other City-State who would basically have Open Season on the "heretics). Some would be far more religious than others, and even the people in them, like real people, would be varied. Some just where the symbols and pay the lip service, whereas others may be fully devout (though some may take that even further into dangerous zealotry).



And yup! You got it. Florence and Genoa were huge inspirations for this, as well as Venice (naturally) and Urbino. The idea of each of them trying to build and create and develop and learn faster and harder than everyone else, each claiming cultural superiority while also, remarkably, contributing to a growing shared culture as people travel and these ideas and breakthroughs spread. They'll hire mercenaries to fight each other, but those Mercenaries are less driven by glory and duty and far more by money and going home alive, so wars are usually fast, tactical affairs, conducted more like business than anything else. Each I want to feel unique, but also a part of that growing sense of shared identity, all of them able to excel in one area or another and therefore both reliant on each other but also competitive to break that reliance.

But seriously, screw those Gnomes from Pisa XD

 

[Jago]

So a few things I've thought on here.

Possible Name for the Land: D'Argenta, named for the silvery mountains that dominate her center.

Possible "Dark Ages" Event: The Harrowing, where many mages attempted to combine their powers to achieve mastery over time, space, and reality itself. Essentially, Godhood.
It failed, destroying entire continents, making oceans boil, and doing severe damage before several participants found a way to stop the great changes from destroying the planet. Most of the spellcasters involved were either killed from magic going wild or were hunted down in the aftermath out of anger and revenge.

Magical aptitude dropped off sharply, Magic itself became feared, witch hunts became common, and the desire to figure out how this could have happened lead to the first true looks into the Natural Sciences, birthing developments like scientific alchemy, clockwork mechanisms, advances in biology and medicine, as well as the development of gunpowder and more.

150 years pass of just sheer development coming off of this cataclysm. The damaged surrounding lands, paranormal horrors leftover from The Harrowing, and the need to consolidate goods and services leads to the rise of the City-State, making most species come together and set aside most prejudices to work towards surviving, and then thriving in this reshaped world. The Harrowing's details are mostly forgotten as civilization is on the rise, but people still recall that magic has caused horrible problems, leading to the desire to have Spellcasters become "Sanctioned" to prevent another cataclysm.

The Church of The Maker gains traction during the 150 year rebuilding, serving as a symbol of persevering over the Harrowing through the power of Intellectualism. The Knowledge and Light Domains are very popular. A series of Saints give rise to the other Domains through their lives and deaths in service to The Maker.

Great wealth and trade leads to our rising Bourgeoisie, our land-rich-but-money-poor Nobles, and increased interaction between City-States. As the damage from The Harrowing is slowly being reversed, The Renaissance, our current time period, hits its full stride as an explosion of philosophy, art, culture, trade, science, and more starts spreading rapidly all throughout D'Argenta.




Again. Just ideas, nothing solid, as I'd want this to be built with player input so we get some characters that are truly invested in this setting (so we can create some really compelling stories).

 

[River Song]

i like the idea of what you have above, have you thought of having the cataclysm tie into the Atlantis myth? The Harrowing occurred on Atlantis, obliterating the island and the resultant Tsunami devastated much of the know world (akin the to the great biblical floods)?

 

[Trogdor1992]

I think I'd be interested in playing a rogue, halfling maybe?

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[Thateous]

Wow that first page was just a brain dump of world expansion. Here's some more:
Do dragonborn exist and if so what is thought of their breath weapon? Teiflings? Orc and their half partners? What about the races that get minor magic like high elves and some gnome?

Loving the concept and setting. Curious if a barbarian still has any place in this society.

On a completely seperate topic are we the only ones in this forum?

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[Trogdor1992]

On a completely seperate topic are we the only ones in this forum?

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Seems that way sometimes don't it?