Campaign Backgrounds

BSF

Explorer
A lot of Campaign background material is stuff I had planned to have come up during the game. Part of the problem is that you guys are embarking on missions that do not allow me to easily introduce some of these things. That isn't a bad thing because there is other material I am able to introduce. But that doesn't mean you don't have any desire to learn some of the other background material. So, how about this?

You guys can post questions and we will see what stuff I want to answer. While part of the fun of the game has been dealing with these episodes where you learn something new, there are also things that your PCs might know, even if the players don't, yet. So, what kinds of things do you want to hear about?
 

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Macbeth

First Post
What is the name of the continent we are on?

What are some of the other major continents?

What other gods might we have heard of?

More later...
 

BSF

Explorer
Macbeth said:
What other gods might we have heard of?

This is a good question. Though, the answer is not straightforward. I will give you more background on how that works and then work toward an answer that will ultimately still be a bit hazy.

First of all, I don't think you are quite set on knowing the "gods" as used by most campaign sourcebooks. I think you are just as interested in how all the divinities work. There are many beings that can have worshippers and can sometimes grant divine abilities. Most scholars will break them down into Deities and Powers. The key is that Powers seem tied to the land. They live here with the mortal races. Deities live elsewhere. Other planes and such.

Some people maintain that Powers are weaker the Deities. There are many reasons put forward, but the two primary arguements are that Powers share the material plane with a variety of different Powers and that they don't have very many worshippers.

The first arguement sounds good, but falls apart when you start to recognize that some Deities choose to share their home planes. In most cases, there will be one Deity with greater power than the rest. Mortal scholars tend to maintain that this is natural. Weaker Deities must find a patron among the stronger Deities, blah, blah, blah. The truth is that mortals are generally not aware of the politics of the Gods. The ones that claim to have knowledge are not even sure they have the whole story, much less an unbiased story. In any event, the arguement that Powers are weaker the Deities because they share a common plane looses strength when you have other Deities sharing planes.

The second arguement will usually betray the bias of the speaker. Powers are not as interested in having humans worship them. Nor elves, thurgon, durgon, halflings, etc. When you consider the range of creatures in the world, it suddenly changes the perspective on who may or may not have many worshippers. The Powers are akin to gods on earth and are more accessible to some of their worshippers. As well, they tend to have followers amongst groups that the more active mortal races are less likely to concern themselves with.

As an example: Eilanahih is a Power. She chooses one place to reside at a time and she is tied to that place for a definite period of time. She then 'dies' and chooses a new place to exist. She is a Power that champions the Dryads. Some consider her to be the Dryad Goddess. In that role, she also has worshippers amongst Satyrs. There are also Centaurs, Nymphs, Gnomes, Halflings, Treants, a multitude of other fey creatures and the oddball humans that worship her. It is unlikely that you would ever find a temple to her, so she might look relatively weak to traditional priests. Yet, in her place she has worshippers from disparate races and she holds a fair portion of power. Is she weaker than some of the Deities? Certainly she is, but she is also more powerful than many other Deities.

So, my concepts of Gods includes the multitude of Deities and Powers.

That being said, how many are there? Who are they?

Well, in times past, there were literally hundreds of Good Gods. There is a place where these have been documented and it would take you months to catalog them. People have tried, unsuccessfully, through the ages. Oddly enough, they all claim to have completed the cataloging, but when they return the records are damaged or lost, or obviously incomplete.

During the Necromancer Wars, many of the Gods disappeared. Both Good and Evil have lost Gods. Populations were decimated during that time and much was forgotten. Some Gods continued on within one or two remaining communities, some have been wholly forgotten, some became more prominent. Students of religion are taught as much as the instructor knows. Students of history may know some as well. (Students of Religion and History tend to have the best overall chance of identifying something as being the symbol of an ancient god.) Still, every so often, a god will arise that was previously forgotten. Exactly how this all works is unclear to most mortals.

So, what other Gods do you know about? Well, the list is both short and infinite. In a lot of cases, I will just wait until you have exposure to one of the gods and then tell you what you know. With the groups skillsets, this is generally easy. On a purely metagame level, it also allows me to introduce new gods for a specific story. I have the apparatus in place for why the god might exist, and why few people have heard of it, so I don't need to break any aspect of the game to do so. However, that does create some difficulties for the players. It might be harder to speculate on the motives or driving force behind something if it is a religious element you have been previously unaware of. I must counsel a bit of patience and trust in those situations.

Pter the Crusader, the Protector - Pter fights Evil. Evil must be stopped and destroyed. All the good people must be protected from the corruption of evil.

Tholnar the Builder - He is said to have created the world. He encourages his followers to build up what already exists. He expects everyone to learn and to build.

Belmay the Bright - She brought light to the world. Both literally and intellectually. She put the Sun in the skies. The stars are hers as well. As is Knowledge.

Lune - It is unclear exactly what Lune is. Folk-legend says that Crill herself once heard Tholnar refer to Lune as "Eldest" or "Elder". Implying that Lune was around before Tholnar. Lune is worshipped by those that revere the natural world and he has very strongs ties to many of the Powers.

Lorissa the Fey - Literally, Lady Luck. Those involved with risky propositions are often hoping for Lorissa's Smile and dreading Lorissa's Frown. If Lorissa is blessing you at the moment, everything is falling in place for you.

Xanthos - Hey, ask Oceas about Xanthos. :)

TharahT - (Case sensitive) TharahT is the god of water. Often taking on a masculine appearance, some say this is because of the number of female worshippers TharahT may have. Good, Evil, Law and Chaos all have their place. TharahT maintains equilibrium between all states.

Lord of Deception - The Lord of Deception is, well, deceptive.

Urghol - A long forgotten god (Demon) of Disease. He last had a power base during the Necromancer Wars. There is a disease/poison called Urghol's Breath that feeds on Divine Blessings. If a Cleric succumbs to Urghol's Breath, the cleric is cut off from receiving spells. It is unclear how other divine spellcasters are affected.

That is a partial short list. I may add more later. :)
 


Tormal

First Post
Aside from the academy, stormhaven and greerson what other prominent nations or organizations are there? This may be to broad... or not?
 

BSF

Explorer
The Calendar and Phases of the Moons

I figure you guys are starting to become a little interested in the calendar and the phases of the two moons.

Toward that end, I have two PDFs for you. The first is a two page yearly calendar for "odd years" and "even years". The other PDF is an eight page quarterly calendar that breaks out each season for each year.

The calendar wraps across two years because of the moon phases. The first moon, Chandra, is a 28 night cycle. The second moon, Tulay, is a 56 night cycle. Chandra has always been in the skies while Tulay appeared over 950 years ago when the world was being finished by Tholnar.

The legend says that after the mad god, Mhata Nahal, was ejected from the earth by the heroes of the age, evil was evicted from the land. In celebration, and to offer the hope of peace, Belmay crafted a second moon. While Tulay and Chandra will match full moon phases, they never match new moon phases. Thus, the night is never truly dark. Darkness is unable to gain even that temporary hold on the land and evil is weakened because of that. Unfortunately, there are periodic eclipses that allow Darkness a momentary moment of power. Eclipses are completely random and the only predictions of when they might come are granted by seers and prophets. These always presage a time of violence and it is theorized that the powers of evil actually assault the heavens at these times. The gods will neither confirm nor deny this, but it is certainly true that terrible, sometimes cataclysmic events occur on earth. Lunar Eclipses tend to happen when one of the two moons is new. There has only been one time in all of history where a lunar eclipse blotted out both moons. The sun the following day was also partially darkened. Solar eclipses are rather rare and are also a herald of bad tidings.

The calendar itself was originally devised by the Thurgon. It is structured as 12 months to a year. Each month is 30 days with 5 six day weeks. Between each season is a Feast day. Some nations use a different calendar, some nations do not celebrate each Feast day. The Festival in Greerson bracketed the Feast at the end of Meadow, the day between Summer and Autumn.

The year is 1011, which is 1011 years after Lord Greerson founded Ft Greerson. The next full moon is soon, Honeyfest 28.

I did not mark in major holidays. If you have any ideas for holidays for your individual cultures/faiths, feel free to post them.

The calendars aren't perfect and I may choose to revise them again in the future.
 

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BSF

Explorer
Thoronodor

Pronounced: Tho - ron - o - dor

Thoronodor is an Elven sea kingdom. Unless granted a decree from the King or Queen, non-elves are not allowed to journey to the island nation. As a result, the number of people that know where to find Thoronodor is very limited.

Five centuries ago, the AElfar nation of Costa Ponalapisi went to war with Thoronodor, claiming that the sea was their sovereign territory. Costa Ponalapisi lost this war, badly. While they had once been a sea power, they suffered brutal setbacks after a lich invaded their kingdom. Their attempt to invade Thoronodor set the Elves on edge. After easily repulsing, then sinking, the invading fleet, the Elves grew their fleet and took supremacy of the seas.

To this day, that supremacy is only challenged by the fleets that Stormhaven maintains. Neither nation has any desire to invade, or to fight, the other. While Thoronodor controls a healthy degree of sea trade, they still cannot compete with the positioning and strength of Stormhaven.

Elven ships import and export almost all Thoronodorian trade goods. As exports, Thoronodorian wood products are highly sought after. From artistic carvings to furniture, Elven woodcraft is renowned. Thoronodor also produces fine wool and maintains a healthy textile trade.

Thoronodor ships maintain a shallow draft and decent speed, with long range armaments. Shipboard weaponry is often augmented by spellcasters, making Thoronodorian ships difficult prey for pirates and privateers.
 



BSF

Explorer
Whoops! I went looking for the calendars and realized there are unanswered questions lingering here as well.

What do you know of the nations to the East? Overall, you don't know a whole lot. Tyrm is from out that direction. Borgash is somewhere out there. Orlane and Hochoch are both out that direction. But there is a lot of space Eastward so it is kind of a vague question. Let me contemplate what would be fairly 'general' knowledge.
 

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