L4W:The Transitive Isles
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The Transitive Isles are the setting for the 4th Edition EnWorld Living Campaign. Please see the design and goals page for information about why the setting is structured the way that it is.
If you are interested in submitting a new element or setting idea please pay careful attention to roles of elements and finding a place -- remember there are no bad ideas, but some ideas will fit better in one part of the setting than in another.
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The Shifting Seas
The Shifting Seas are a vast ocean that shares some of the properties of a transitive plane; travel beyond sight of land is always uncertain and often perilous. It is studded with many islands, island chains and other geographic oddities that span a range of regions; even the fluid connections between islands shift over time, usually slowly, but occasionally with great speed. There are several larger continents within the seas as well, although the closest you would want to travel to is (usually) several weeks travel away.
Daunton: The Main Isle
![Pirates often call the Proximate Isles the Near Isles Drawn by [www.tommartinart.com Dr. Midnight] (Commissioned by Graf)](/wiki/index.php/Image:TI_Map_Final.jpg)
Daunton is one of the greatest cities on the Shifting Seas, settled by colonists fleeing the destruction of the Kingdom of Allaria several hundred years ago. It is the last remnant of that lost nations proud tradition of education, and inclusion. Half of the city is human, mostly descendants of the original colonists, while the other half is drawn from a broad spectrum of races.
The island itself is a bit more than thirty miles long* on the N/S axis, featuring a deeply forested interior and sheer cliffs around all sides. The cliffs recede to sea level only at one point, the large double bay around which the city of Daunton is built.
*With the linkages to the feywild apparently reopening the interior of Daunton has become increasingly difficult to map; the effects are sporadic now but there are persistent rumors the interior of the island is warping -- new (or at least not seen since the days of Arga the Black) valleys, rivers and other features have been reported -- in some cases causing trips to the interior that would take only a few hours to take days or more.
The Five
Five great warriors who were Daunton's greatest champions for a generation and perished a year ago during a great conflict with the Brotherhood of the Bright Eon.
- Jeronel Threehammer, a male Dwarven cleric of Maros.
- Aurelia Carenvale, female Half-Elven warlock.
- Arek Steelsheath, female Warforged Fighter.
- Mauros Esthanapiros, male Human wizard.
- Keshana Thayul, female Elven rogue.
The Proximate Isles
There are currently four smaller islands within sight of the main island; travel is quite constant between these islands.
Bacarte
Bacarte is a rough and tumble island that has orbited Daunton for over a century, sometimes closer and sometimes further away. The island, with its treacherous shoals and thick mists has long been haven to the unsavory, from merchants to outright pirates to worse. In recent years a group of reformed pirates calling themselves the merchants of Bacarte have acted as a civilizing influence becoming a powerful force in legal shipping, improving conditions in the shanty towns and attracting unsavory and unattractive businesses that support the economic development of Daunton.
"Monstrous" races are relatively common on Bacarte. Provided they can keep their manners and don't upset the pirates they are often treated with a degree of respect unheard of in civilized lands.
Kythira the Living Isle
Rumored to be a living creature in legend and the legendary home of a great court of Eladrin, who may have immigrated to the Isle of the Fey Court. If the isle is a living creature, being bisected by the Shadowrift must cause it great pain.
Vegetation grows at a prodigious rate upon Kythira: most notably the massive mangrove forests that push outward from the Shadowrift to the edge of the shore. These forests are populated by sparse tribes of gnomes and shifters. Attempts to colonize the island for farming have not yet been successful.
The Isle of Opposition
The Isle of Opposition is a storied and famous place within the Shifting Seas. The crescent-shaped island is marked with two henges, ancient rings of giant stones, on opposite ends of the island; the henges form rare permanent gates to places beyond the shifting seas. Arcanists who have managed to study the ruins rarely share what they have learned, but it is commonly believed that there is some significance in the selection of the locations.
Currently the golden henge is open to the Valley of Bone and the gray henge is open to the Empire of Jade. Settlers from both lands have moved to the isle over the past few years; existing in a sort of uneasy truce. Visitors from the Valley do not have a unified agenda: some seek glory or power; others to commune with the strange spirits of the Shifting Seas; still others are motivated by curiosity. By comparison most of the travelers from the Empire seek some resource or power that would give them an advantage in their battle against the forces of darkness that threaten their land.
Mykonos' Sanctuary / Nova Imperium
A monastery founded by the halfling pacifist known as Mykonos has fallen on troubled times. Once known and respected throughout the Transitive Seas, the monastic order was infiltrated and corrupted by the Brotherhood of the Bright Eon, the cult whose plans would spell the end for the Five. They used the island as their secret base for almost a year, spreading discord amongst Daunton and the other isles and preparing for their dark rite.
Abandoned for only a few months before the Imperium used its powerful magics to set up a permanent portal to its home. The Imperium currently maintains only a small squad of legionnaires, but the average citizen of Daunton eyes their outpost, and the mostly unexplored ruins of the extensive monastery, with deep distrust. Roughly a month ago the portal suddenly became inactive, stranding a mass of visitors from all walks of Imperium life on Mykonos' Sanctuary.
The Near Lands
The near isles are located near to Daunton some, such as the Savage Lands and the Isle of the Fey Court, can reached by a days travel, others take longer, or more variable periods of time. There are potentially dozens of them, some barely large enough to stand on, others of prodigious size.
Two of the close isles, in particular, have a strong relationship with Daunton due to fey zones that linked them to Daunton's interior forests. As signs that the zones to the feywild on Dauton have begun to re-appear become more manifest Dauntonians have begun to lend more credence to the tales that Arga's ritual was only temporary and required replenishment, and that her student Esthanapiros was secretly maintaining it all those years.
The Isle of the Fey Court
Possibly connected to the great fey court that ruled Kythira in legend the Isle of the Fey Court is reputed to be a charming and friendly place. It was linked to Daunton's interior for centuries through by the feywild through zones in Daunton's interior until the intervention of Arga the Black, the mentor of one of the Five, who enacted a powerful ritual and that suppressed the magical connections to the feywild.
The Savage Lands
A massive hinterland filled with warring savage humanoids it was connected to Daunton through passages to the feywild until fifty years ago when Arga the Black enacted a great ritual to cut it them off.
Travelers occasionally encounter the Savage Lands traveling to and from Daunton and few manage to survive it's storms, shoals and raiding parties of humanoids long enough to complete their voyage.
Isle of the Laughing Gallows
Many wild rumors stir about this wicked island but a few things remain certain: It’s a haven for many exotic avians, it has deadly reefs that frequently retract and extend like the claws of a beast, and some of the most notorious pirates gather here at its infamous black market, the Nest. The island is particularly elusive and usually drifts with swift currents throughout the Shifting Sea.
Allaria
Separated by weeks of travel over treacherous seas Allaria, while it is technically a "near land" the once grand kingdom occupies a special place in the mind of the average Daunton citizen; Daunton was transformed from a remote border outpost by settlers fleeing the destruction of the kingdom several hundred years ago.
This once grand kingdom is now a dangerous and brooding continent; a handful of free cities, members of the Allarian League continue to eek out a hardscrabble existence. Proud cities such as Allaria which hoped to rebuild the continent now struggle merely to survive, while every day seems to bring another report of a monstrous attack overwhelming cities such as Fromish, Golmgard or Beken. Few wish to give credence to rumors that Shule has fallen completely to the shape changing serpentmen of the Unending Mire; even as they note that merchants from that region seem to have taken on a disquieting, reptilian air.
The only place on the continent where order reigns is the rapidly expanding Empire of Hzaka, governed by an extreme and brutal hobgoblin regime. There are an alarming number of reported skirmishes between the merchants of Bacarte and the Empire's nascent seafaring fleet suggesting that the merchants may know something about their goblinoid brethren... something that has scared them badly enough to risk their carefully tended reputation for neutrality.
The Far Lands
Connected to Daunton and the Near Isles only by ancient portals that no living arcanist truly understands the far lands are subject to extensive debate. Are they on the same plane as Daunton, just separated by such lengths of the shifting seas that no vessel has ever successfully made the journey? Or are they truly other places?
With portals to the near isles the Imperium, Kingdom of Jade, and the Valley of Bone are the most well known Far Lands, but rumors exist of two continents named Erkemhest and Avenroc, which lie more than 3 months' journey to the southwest; the once prosperous land of Ea has recently become wracked with war. Travelers from that strange land, including two warring races who call themselves the githyanki and githzerai, have begun to appear more frequently in Daunton.
Below The Isles
The landscape of the Transitive Isles is dotted with caverns, tunnels, and underground ruins. Rumors persist however that there may be more then just isolated caverns beneath the ever shifting earth and sea.
The Depthworld
Very little concrete information exists regarding the depthworld. Most residents relegate it to the stuff of childrens tales and nightmares. Experts residing on the various isles maintain that there is a huge network of interconnected caves that run beneath the shifting seas, connecting to the isles in ways both mundane and magical. Some even theorize that Daunton has remained at the focal point of the transitive isles for so long because of a physical connection to the depthworld that holds it in place. However the only thing that can be said for certain is that The Depthworld, if it exists, is a place of danger and strange alien sights unlike the surface world.
Xibalba
Tales of The Depthworld have a strong following in The Valley of Bones. The locals talk of Xibalba as if it extends for miles, and battered adventurers have been known to stumble back to civilization raving about portals, and beasts lurking in the shadows. While sages theorize that Xibalba and The Depthworld may be one and the same, it is difficult to say with so little evidence.
Religion
Each of the 12 gods would appear somewhat differently to different cultures. (So the cowardice that Maros displays in the Imperium legends might be seen as "the cunning of a great warrior" to the tribes of the Valley of Bone). There are also many demi-gods, some known only to certain cultures/regions others that are more universal.
So if you want a god of hunting you can go with Dayna (or a culturally appropriate variant) but if you want your cleric to serve the good of magic, secrets and kung-fu you'll need to make up (and get approved?) a demi-god.
Life and Death
Lauto, god of the dead and merchants, is permissive of resurrection. An individual whose unfulfilled destiny is strong enough for them to pull free from the numbing embrace of the underworld is free to go... provided they play his price. He even allows others beside his priests to intercede on behalf of the dead provided they observe the proper formalities (perform the raise dead ritual) and pay his price; he's a reasonable god and won't turn down a deal, especially a deal that benefits him.
His temple on Daunton will even loan the character the money required for them to return to fulfill their destiny; though their interest rates can be quite exorbitant.
Languages
The common language of Daunton and the near isles is Allarian, the modern dialect of the ancient tongue. While small Daunton exerts great influence through it's role as a center learning and culture, a premiere trading port and a place where anyone can come; as such Allarian is the lingua franca of the known world. Two individuals, meeting peaceably, will almost always find themselves speaking Allarian if they do not share a common native tongue.
There are many languages and dialects within the setting, but most are used by limited groups or only in specific regions.
Races
Every race in the players handbook and the appendix at the back of the monster manual has a place in the Transitive Isles; please see the races section of the character creation page for more information.
The Poll
This setting proposal originally included a poll designed to allow a wide variety of feedback.
