Raddu
Explorer
Hi...I haven't posted much to these boards but I've been a lurker for a while. This is a campaign I'm going to run..any comments are appreciated.
Fiendish Resistance Setting
A dark fantasy setting with low-standard magic, high alternative magic systems. The land is corrupted. Fiends either out-right control various countries or heavily manipulate them. The gods have gone, psionics are a parting gift from the gods...
This prologue...is going to be what I give the players to introduce them to the world, so they all have a common them...IE Demon Hunters. You can skip down to the Timeline if you don't care to read the story.
You make your way through the dark night mud caking to your boots. Raindrops hit the thick leather cowl of your rain jacket. A mask protects your face from the acidic rain that falls from demon cursed clouds. Stiff gloves protect your hands. You pull the cowl closer to your face as you approach a similarly covered pedestrian. They start to cross the street before you get too close to each other. You cannot see their eyes from across the street as you pass each other. He looks back at you, as you look back at him. Is he a fiend? Is he possessed?
You look up at the acid washed street signs, looking for a marker that you’ve arrived at your destination. There, a dwarven rune in the corner of a pottery-makers sign. You don’t know what it says, but it the same rune that the grizzled half-orc Craeg showed you.
You stop at the door, looking up and down the street. No one is out on this god forsaken night….you laugh at yourself for thinking that comment…every night is god forsaken. You rap on the door, two soft, two hard, just like you were told. You hear movement inside. A slide at eye level pulls back, yellow tinged eyes set deep in a bony brow look back at you. You give your name, the slide closes, you hear the lock click and the door opens. Light spills into the dark night. Looking around again, you enter the pottery shop.
Inside, the door closes quickly behind you. You’re immediately surrounded by two armed dwarves clad in black leather armor and a yellow eyed tattooed orc. A tall elf stands in the back of the room with a cold-iron tipped arrow knocked and pointed at you. “Remove your cowl, mask, and gloves.”, commands the gruff voiced orc, emphasized by something stiff and sharp against your back. You do as your told, slowly, knowing your life depends on it. You feel their eyes on you, inspecting your hair, your skin, your eyes.
Apparently satisfied, one dwarf stretches out his hand toward you. You clasp it. Your knees buckle at the mental barrage that assaults you, memories of your life swim through your head out of control. The last image you see is that of Craeg the half-orc. You inhale sharply, out of breath, not realizing that you were holding your breath. You’re on your hands and knees, not knowing how you got there. Strong hands lift you to your feet, your vision blurs for a moment.
When you’re yourself again you look at those in the room with you, they look more relaxed, well, at least there’s no sword in your back or arrow aimed at your head, they’re still staring intently at you. “Sorry ‘bout dat”, apologizes one of the dwarves, “had ta be sure you’re not one o’ Them. Come wit’ me.”
You follow the dwarf, who grabs a lantern down a flight of stairs into the basement of the shop. In the basement there are several others of various races, seated on improvised chairs, crates, sacks, or leaning against something, all quiet. You spot Craeg sitting in a real chair, leaned back against a wall. “Find a spot”, the dwarf tells you.
You find a comfortable spot along the wall, begin to speak. Craeg raises his hand silencing you, “All will be explained when the others arrive.” Within several minutes others do arrive, trailing the dwarf that brought you downstairs.
Craeg looks over the group, obviously counting heads. Apparently satisfied that all are in attendance the half-orc looks to the dwarf, “Get the others”, he commands. Moments later both dwarves, the elf, and tattooed orc come down, each squatting or sitting, on the stair due to the lack of room.
“I’ve meet each of you over the past few weeks, you are all skilled in your various arts, you all desire to accomplish more than can as a soldier in the army, we can help you do that.”, he explains as he motions to his compatriots, each of whom seems to continue to look at you suspiciously. “We do not work for the King of Tralen, Jarl of Milhein, Emperor of the Golden State, Prefect Kissinth, or the leader of any other nation. Our work is beyond the survival of any individual state. We fight the demonic wherever they may be. Be they the frontlines of the Malcari elven lands, within the courts of the Crimson King, or in the tainted ruins of Molgresh. Our meeting was not a chance encounter; we have been watching you for some time now. Some of you know us as the Disciples of Ahm, the Seekers of the Scrolls, Reader of the Black, or many less complimentary names. We are all of these. We remain a secretive, insular group, the better to know and trust our members and decrease the chances of demonic influence. If you decide to become an Initiate of the Scrolls you will have resources in many towns and cities across the lands. These resources will be available to you as long as you provide the Seekers and Readers with more information on the demons. The Seekers are those who have proven themselves in their search for knowledge. The Readers are members of the society who have attained a position of honor and guide us in the battle versus the Demonic.
Timeline
Time Immemorial
In secret, a cabal of fiends made up of some of the most cunning demon and devil lords in existence plotted the downfall of the gods together. To that end they overtook a world in the prime material plane, lessening the power of the gods. The gods were horrified at how quickly the fiends overtook their forces and how well the Demons and Devils worked together. For these fiends it seemed the Blood War had ended. The gods could not let the cabal spread their influence to other fiends or the Gods would fall to the might of the lower planes.
Determined that this would not happen, the Gods laid a trap for the cabal by creating a world that seemed to be easy to take over. As the demons began their take over the gods brought in powerful fiend binder and slayers from other realms of existence. Eventually the fiends were trapped by the gods’ followers in the world itself.
The gods sealed the fiends’ prison with the energy of souls, locking them away forever. The gods made a pact with each other, that no summoning magic would be used by their followers on the planet. If other fiends found out what had happened they may try to free their brethren. Celestials scoured the land, finding all references to the fiends and wiping them out.
Each of the gods chose a clan or nation of a specific race to guard one of the seals. Over eons some of the guardians became lax and began to forget their duties.
-9,400
Some elves learn how to harness the use of soul magic. Not knowing that the gods had used the Incarnum to lock the seals they used the magic freely. The seals were no long able to collect enough ambient Incarnum due to the elves use of and many seals began to leak.
Discovering that the elves had used Incarnum, but not that the seals were leaking; the gods forbid the use of Incarnum, explaining only that souls are in their realm of control.
-2,400
Over thousands of years the slow leak of a devil lords taint and corruption leak from his seal into the population of elves, turning them into dark and twisted things, fiendish drow. The corrupt elves believe that the fiend was captured by accident and work to free him. The drow magic is not enough to fully free the fiend. He was only partially free, in that he could influence mortals, but the still could not leave his prison and return to his outer planar home. In order to free himself fully from his prison he determined that he must destroy the prison. To this end the fiendish lord began to corrupt mortals to do their bidding. His mortal pawns use arcane magic to summon the first fiends to the planet from the outer planes, raise armies and harvest souls to power the great magics that will destroy the planet.
-2,200
A demon prince is similarly released by twisted guardians of its seal.
-2,100
Believing that the already free devil prince was plotting to kill him while still weak, the demon lord freed another of his kind to fight the Prince of Hell. The Blood War began anew for theses fiends.
-2,050
Realizing he cannot survive alone the devil lord finds the seal of one of his brethren and frees him.
The gods thwart the fiends with their own mortal followers as best they can, considering the same aspect of the world that prevents the demon lords from being completely free and manifesting on the planet or leaving prevents the god’s avatars from manifesting as well.
-700
WarForged are created to fight the fiendish armies.
-600
One of the demon lords is able to taint the arcane energy of the world. (By linking arcane energy to the plane of chaos/insanity.), allowing even more fiends to come into the world. The earth itself slowly begins to become tainted and corrupted. Many mortals do not realize the corrupting power of arcane energy immediately.
-580
WarForged become corrupt and evil due to their connection to the Arcane. Many countries that depended on the WarForged for defense erupt into civil wars. Similarly, arcane magical items begin to show signs of corruption.
-560
Mortals cease to use corruptible arcane magic. Wizardry and Sorcerery become illegal.
0
• The gods disappear. They’re there one day..the next day they weren’t. Some mortals believe the gods abandoned them, others believe they were driven off by the friends. When the gods leave they cut off most access to the outer planes, no more demons can be summoned, but their granted magic to followers are cut off as well. The gods left, hoping that their followers could defeat the fiends, and if they did not, then no one from the outer planes could reach the world and the fiendish lords of the cabal could not leave the world.
• The gods knew this day would come, they planned for it by leaving Divine Tokens for their mortal followers to learn new manners of magic to help them in their fight with the overwhelming fiendish forces.
• Some Celestials, not fully understanding the situation do not wish to abandon the mortals and manifest on the prime material plane before the paths to the Upper Planes are closed.
• All manner of undead begin appearing, as souls cannot escape to the outer planes.
• The same day mortals begin manifesting psionic powers. Some say they are a parting gift form the gods to fight the fiends, other say they are manifestations of fiendish corruption
• The ever spreading taint and corruption of the land slows as gates to the lower planes cease functioning.
1 AG (After Gods)
• Fiends learn that with mortal worship they can manipulate ambient Incarnum to grant spells to their dedicated followers.
• The first Favored Soul begins manifesting diving magic.
3 AG
After finding a Divine Token a great martial warrior is lead to a sacred site, where the secrets of a Blade Magic discipline is revealed to him.
4 AG
Celestials learn that with mortal worship they can manipulate ambient Incarnum to grant spells to their dedicated followers.
7 AG
By finding a Divine Token the humans discover Fire Magic
13 AG
By finding a Divine Token the humans discover Earth Magic
15 AG
Humans discover Water Magic
16 AG
Humans discover Air Magic
25 AG
Fiendish wizards learn how to reincarnate the souls of the dead into native outsiders.
50 AG
Elves resume their ancient practice of Incarnum manipulation, seeking to utilize the souls of their dead rather than let the fiends harvest them to produce more fiends. They teach the other mortals to do the same. (The Seals are no longer weakened with the use of Incarnum, since there is an abundance of soul energy in the world because they cannot escape to the outer planes.)
200 AG
Human psionic masters pick up the Forged where arcane casters left off and learn to give sentience to elemental energy to create ElementalPsiForged.
300 AG Current
The world is embroiled in wars, the fiends are strong. Sometimes subtle, sometimes brutal, the friends guide mortal armies against mortal armies, they influence kings to backstab each other. The mortals must be vigilant to the manipulations of the fiends on those around them. At the same time the mortals must trust those around them to fight the fiends and their minions physically.
Races:
Humans: The most numerous of the races
Elves: The longest lived of the mortal races, some elves remember when the gods left.
Dwarves: The fortitude of the dwarves has let them thrive where others have been eradicated.
Aasimar: Reminders that the celestials once existed
Tieflings: Pariah in the remaining mortal controlled countries, they are numerous in fiendish lands.
Giants: Fiends cannot control the giants so they are constantly at war, but the giants have no love for the smaller mortals.
Dragons: Semi-ntelligent fire breathing creatures, dragons love the taste of fiend flesh. Those corrupted by the fiends are vicious foes. Not metallic or chromatic
Orcs: Several large orc clans have fallen in with the fiends, curiously, the vast majority of orcs fight the fiends with great fervor. They work together tenuously with humans to defeat fiends when they can.
ElementalPsiForged: The Forged are partly responsible for arcane magic becoming illegal. The few Forged that were around when arcane casters began displaying the Taint became Tainted themselves. It immediately became illegal to create more forged. Since then ElementalPsiForged have been created.
Halflings, Gnomes, Goblins, & Kobolds: These weak races were long ago enslaved by the fiends and their spawn. Some remain in the free countries.
Classes:
Common:
Fighter
Ranger: Elf only
Rogue
Scout
Uncommon:
Binder (Pact Magic)
Crusader (Tome of Battle)
Druid: Elf only
Incarnate (Incarnum)
Monk:
RuneSage (Arcana Evolved Runethane): Dwarf only
RuneAdept (Arcana Evolved, modified Ref): Dwarf Only
RuneThane (Arcana Evolved, modified Fort): Dwarf Only
Elemental Caller: Shugenja (Complete Divine)
Soul Born (Incarnum)
Swordsage (Tome of Battle)
Marked, need to create a tattoo artist class for tattoos in Relics & Rituals
Warblade (Tome of Battle)
Rare:
Akashic (Arcana Evolved)
Favored Soul: Their weapon focus is that of whatever celestial they are descended from.
Paladin: To retain their powers Paladins follow celestials who followed their god of choice.
Sorcerer: Usually NPC
Warlock: NPC Only
Wizard: Usually NPC
Prestige Classes:
Inquisitor: Complete Divine
Smokeshaper (Fire Cleric PrC) Elemental Magic
Beast Tamer: Dragon(Giant Prc)
Knight of the Sacred Seal (Binder Prc) Tome of Magic
Witch Slayer (Binder Prc) Tome of Magic
Tainted Sorcerer (Sorcerer) Unearthed Arcana
Blighter (Druid Alternate) Unearthed Arcana
Occult Slayer (Complete Warrior)
Fiend Binder (292)
Fiend Slayer (287)
Magic:
Wizardry: Thought to be responsible for the rise of the fiends, Arcane magic has been outlawed in all civilized lands not under fiendish control. The use of arcane magic results in a slow fiendish taint of the practitioner.
Sorcery: Displays of fiend-born powers is a death sentence in non-fiend controlled lands.
Warlocks: Making permanent pacts with fiends is outlawed in non-fiend controlled lands.
Clerical Magic: When the gods fled, they took their magic with them.
Elemental Magic: Humans can cast Divine Elemental Magic.
Favored Soul Magic: Interbreeding with shape changed celestials provides the last rare vestiges of divine magic. Their powers became apparent as the ambient soul energy began building after the gods departed.
Paladin Magic: The divine rights of paladins proves, at least to the paladins, that the Gods still watch over them.
Pact Magic: Looked down upon for its strange manifestations, but the power of bindings cannot be taken lightly. All sources of power must be considered in the battle against the fiends. The carefully drawn protective circles remove the element of taint associated with Wizardry.
Incarnum: Long ago outlawed by the Gods themselves, the manipulation of Incarnum has seen a revival as an energy source since the abandonment by the Gods.
Druidic Magic: Their fey blood allows Elves to manipulate the natural world as Druids and Rangers. All elven magic requires singing as a component.
Rune Magic: Dwarves are the only users of the Runes, they guard this secret closely.
Blade Magic: Ancient fighting styles infused with power have seen revitalization since the gods have left. Used mostly by humans, but dwarves and elves each have a style. Orcs have several as well.
Psionics: The last gift the gods gave the mortals before they left.
Tattoo Magic: the Tattoos of the orcs aid them in destroying demons. Lords of Darkness (3.0), p. 189, AEG Mercenaries
All Races: Favored Soul, Paladin, Pact, Incarnum, Psionics, Blade
Human/Aasimar: Elemental
Elf: Druid
Dwarf: Rune
Orc: Tattoo
Half-Orc: Tattoo, Elemental,
ElementalPsiForged:, Elemental
Items:
Grafts/Symbionts
Elemental Grafts (Magic of Eberron)
Plant Grafts (Magic of Eberron)
Fiendish Grafts (Fiend Folio)
Forged Grafts (Faiths of Eberron)
Sithilar Grafts (Lords of Madness)
Symbionts (Magic od Eberron p153, ECS p298) They are fiendish…Only certain clans of somewhat crazed demon hunters use them for “good”. Otherwise they are used by fiendish servants.
Magical Items:
Arcane Items: by the current age all arcane items have become tainted. Merely carrying a tainted item causes the carrier to slowly become tainted. Certain holy wraps can be made to shield a carrier from becoming tainted. Special Touchstone locations can be used to cleanse a magic item for a certain amount of time before the taint seeps back in.
Divine Items: When the gods left the items their priests created in their names slowly began to fade away depending on the power of the item. A divine token was eventually found that allowed a mortal to invest bind his life energy to a previously Divine item, thus returning its magical power for him or his descendents.
Even the magical items created by the followers of Celestials are of a decaying nature, the celestials just do not have the capacity to grant permanent items.
Feats:
Bonded Item (Arcana Evolved)
Power of the Name (Arcana Evolved)
Rune Feats (Heroes of High Fantasy: Dwarves)
Magic:
Fiends/Celestials granting spells:
Fiends/Celestials can grant spells due to the abundance of soul energy since the departure of the gods. Mortals who wish to gain spells from a fiend or celestial must take a feat before they can take a PrC related to their patron.
Demon Thrall - Demon Lord
Disciple of Darkness - Archdevil
Knight of Stars - Eladrin Paragon
Servant of the Heavens - Archon Paragon
Favored of the Companions - Guardinal Paragon
Background
Celestials: The Celestial beings that chose to remain on the prime after the gods left have found themselves in a quandary. Many of the Celestials thought they would be heralded as saviors and that the mortals would flock to their banner of protection. Instead, in their grief and anger, many mortals lashed out at their “saviors” and rebuked them. As the mortals saw it, the gods left, so what was keeping the Celestials from leaving as well?
Not all mortals rejected the celestials, many priests and paladins have allied with celestials who worshiped the same god they did and fight the fiends with all their might.
As much as the mortals needs the celestials to grant what limited diving magic there is, the celestials need the mortals as well, for if a celestial dies while the Upper Planes are disconnected, they die. Many fiends would like to harvest the energy of a dead celestial.
A few celestials have risen to great power and command vast armies of mortals, some of these countries are rules as benevolent dictatorships, while others are harsh totalitarian states.
All comments are appreciated.
Raddu
Fiendish Resistance Setting
A dark fantasy setting with low-standard magic, high alternative magic systems. The land is corrupted. Fiends either out-right control various countries or heavily manipulate them. The gods have gone, psionics are a parting gift from the gods...
This prologue...is going to be what I give the players to introduce them to the world, so they all have a common them...IE Demon Hunters. You can skip down to the Timeline if you don't care to read the story.
You make your way through the dark night mud caking to your boots. Raindrops hit the thick leather cowl of your rain jacket. A mask protects your face from the acidic rain that falls from demon cursed clouds. Stiff gloves protect your hands. You pull the cowl closer to your face as you approach a similarly covered pedestrian. They start to cross the street before you get too close to each other. You cannot see their eyes from across the street as you pass each other. He looks back at you, as you look back at him. Is he a fiend? Is he possessed?
You look up at the acid washed street signs, looking for a marker that you’ve arrived at your destination. There, a dwarven rune in the corner of a pottery-makers sign. You don’t know what it says, but it the same rune that the grizzled half-orc Craeg showed you.
You stop at the door, looking up and down the street. No one is out on this god forsaken night….you laugh at yourself for thinking that comment…every night is god forsaken. You rap on the door, two soft, two hard, just like you were told. You hear movement inside. A slide at eye level pulls back, yellow tinged eyes set deep in a bony brow look back at you. You give your name, the slide closes, you hear the lock click and the door opens. Light spills into the dark night. Looking around again, you enter the pottery shop.
Inside, the door closes quickly behind you. You’re immediately surrounded by two armed dwarves clad in black leather armor and a yellow eyed tattooed orc. A tall elf stands in the back of the room with a cold-iron tipped arrow knocked and pointed at you. “Remove your cowl, mask, and gloves.”, commands the gruff voiced orc, emphasized by something stiff and sharp against your back. You do as your told, slowly, knowing your life depends on it. You feel their eyes on you, inspecting your hair, your skin, your eyes.
Apparently satisfied, one dwarf stretches out his hand toward you. You clasp it. Your knees buckle at the mental barrage that assaults you, memories of your life swim through your head out of control. The last image you see is that of Craeg the half-orc. You inhale sharply, out of breath, not realizing that you were holding your breath. You’re on your hands and knees, not knowing how you got there. Strong hands lift you to your feet, your vision blurs for a moment.
When you’re yourself again you look at those in the room with you, they look more relaxed, well, at least there’s no sword in your back or arrow aimed at your head, they’re still staring intently at you. “Sorry ‘bout dat”, apologizes one of the dwarves, “had ta be sure you’re not one o’ Them. Come wit’ me.”
You follow the dwarf, who grabs a lantern down a flight of stairs into the basement of the shop. In the basement there are several others of various races, seated on improvised chairs, crates, sacks, or leaning against something, all quiet. You spot Craeg sitting in a real chair, leaned back against a wall. “Find a spot”, the dwarf tells you.
You find a comfortable spot along the wall, begin to speak. Craeg raises his hand silencing you, “All will be explained when the others arrive.” Within several minutes others do arrive, trailing the dwarf that brought you downstairs.
Craeg looks over the group, obviously counting heads. Apparently satisfied that all are in attendance the half-orc looks to the dwarf, “Get the others”, he commands. Moments later both dwarves, the elf, and tattooed orc come down, each squatting or sitting, on the stair due to the lack of room.
“I’ve meet each of you over the past few weeks, you are all skilled in your various arts, you all desire to accomplish more than can as a soldier in the army, we can help you do that.”, he explains as he motions to his compatriots, each of whom seems to continue to look at you suspiciously. “We do not work for the King of Tralen, Jarl of Milhein, Emperor of the Golden State, Prefect Kissinth, or the leader of any other nation. Our work is beyond the survival of any individual state. We fight the demonic wherever they may be. Be they the frontlines of the Malcari elven lands, within the courts of the Crimson King, or in the tainted ruins of Molgresh. Our meeting was not a chance encounter; we have been watching you for some time now. Some of you know us as the Disciples of Ahm, the Seekers of the Scrolls, Reader of the Black, or many less complimentary names. We are all of these. We remain a secretive, insular group, the better to know and trust our members and decrease the chances of demonic influence. If you decide to become an Initiate of the Scrolls you will have resources in many towns and cities across the lands. These resources will be available to you as long as you provide the Seekers and Readers with more information on the demons. The Seekers are those who have proven themselves in their search for knowledge. The Readers are members of the society who have attained a position of honor and guide us in the battle versus the Demonic.
Timeline
Time Immemorial
In secret, a cabal of fiends made up of some of the most cunning demon and devil lords in existence plotted the downfall of the gods together. To that end they overtook a world in the prime material plane, lessening the power of the gods. The gods were horrified at how quickly the fiends overtook their forces and how well the Demons and Devils worked together. For these fiends it seemed the Blood War had ended. The gods could not let the cabal spread their influence to other fiends or the Gods would fall to the might of the lower planes.
Determined that this would not happen, the Gods laid a trap for the cabal by creating a world that seemed to be easy to take over. As the demons began their take over the gods brought in powerful fiend binder and slayers from other realms of existence. Eventually the fiends were trapped by the gods’ followers in the world itself.
The gods sealed the fiends’ prison with the energy of souls, locking them away forever. The gods made a pact with each other, that no summoning magic would be used by their followers on the planet. If other fiends found out what had happened they may try to free their brethren. Celestials scoured the land, finding all references to the fiends and wiping them out.
Each of the gods chose a clan or nation of a specific race to guard one of the seals. Over eons some of the guardians became lax and began to forget their duties.
-9,400
Some elves learn how to harness the use of soul magic. Not knowing that the gods had used the Incarnum to lock the seals they used the magic freely. The seals were no long able to collect enough ambient Incarnum due to the elves use of and many seals began to leak.
Discovering that the elves had used Incarnum, but not that the seals were leaking; the gods forbid the use of Incarnum, explaining only that souls are in their realm of control.
-2,400
Over thousands of years the slow leak of a devil lords taint and corruption leak from his seal into the population of elves, turning them into dark and twisted things, fiendish drow. The corrupt elves believe that the fiend was captured by accident and work to free him. The drow magic is not enough to fully free the fiend. He was only partially free, in that he could influence mortals, but the still could not leave his prison and return to his outer planar home. In order to free himself fully from his prison he determined that he must destroy the prison. To this end the fiendish lord began to corrupt mortals to do their bidding. His mortal pawns use arcane magic to summon the first fiends to the planet from the outer planes, raise armies and harvest souls to power the great magics that will destroy the planet.
-2,200
A demon prince is similarly released by twisted guardians of its seal.
-2,100
Believing that the already free devil prince was plotting to kill him while still weak, the demon lord freed another of his kind to fight the Prince of Hell. The Blood War began anew for theses fiends.
-2,050
Realizing he cannot survive alone the devil lord finds the seal of one of his brethren and frees him.
The gods thwart the fiends with their own mortal followers as best they can, considering the same aspect of the world that prevents the demon lords from being completely free and manifesting on the planet or leaving prevents the god’s avatars from manifesting as well.
-700
WarForged are created to fight the fiendish armies.
-600
One of the demon lords is able to taint the arcane energy of the world. (By linking arcane energy to the plane of chaos/insanity.), allowing even more fiends to come into the world. The earth itself slowly begins to become tainted and corrupted. Many mortals do not realize the corrupting power of arcane energy immediately.
-580
WarForged become corrupt and evil due to their connection to the Arcane. Many countries that depended on the WarForged for defense erupt into civil wars. Similarly, arcane magical items begin to show signs of corruption.
-560
Mortals cease to use corruptible arcane magic. Wizardry and Sorcerery become illegal.
0
• The gods disappear. They’re there one day..the next day they weren’t. Some mortals believe the gods abandoned them, others believe they were driven off by the friends. When the gods leave they cut off most access to the outer planes, no more demons can be summoned, but their granted magic to followers are cut off as well. The gods left, hoping that their followers could defeat the fiends, and if they did not, then no one from the outer planes could reach the world and the fiendish lords of the cabal could not leave the world.
• The gods knew this day would come, they planned for it by leaving Divine Tokens for their mortal followers to learn new manners of magic to help them in their fight with the overwhelming fiendish forces.
• Some Celestials, not fully understanding the situation do not wish to abandon the mortals and manifest on the prime material plane before the paths to the Upper Planes are closed.
• All manner of undead begin appearing, as souls cannot escape to the outer planes.
• The same day mortals begin manifesting psionic powers. Some say they are a parting gift form the gods to fight the fiends, other say they are manifestations of fiendish corruption
• The ever spreading taint and corruption of the land slows as gates to the lower planes cease functioning.
1 AG (After Gods)
• Fiends learn that with mortal worship they can manipulate ambient Incarnum to grant spells to their dedicated followers.
• The first Favored Soul begins manifesting diving magic.
3 AG
After finding a Divine Token a great martial warrior is lead to a sacred site, where the secrets of a Blade Magic discipline is revealed to him.
4 AG
Celestials learn that with mortal worship they can manipulate ambient Incarnum to grant spells to their dedicated followers.
7 AG
By finding a Divine Token the humans discover Fire Magic
13 AG
By finding a Divine Token the humans discover Earth Magic
15 AG
Humans discover Water Magic
16 AG
Humans discover Air Magic
25 AG
Fiendish wizards learn how to reincarnate the souls of the dead into native outsiders.
50 AG
Elves resume their ancient practice of Incarnum manipulation, seeking to utilize the souls of their dead rather than let the fiends harvest them to produce more fiends. They teach the other mortals to do the same. (The Seals are no longer weakened with the use of Incarnum, since there is an abundance of soul energy in the world because they cannot escape to the outer planes.)
200 AG
Human psionic masters pick up the Forged where arcane casters left off and learn to give sentience to elemental energy to create ElementalPsiForged.
300 AG Current
The world is embroiled in wars, the fiends are strong. Sometimes subtle, sometimes brutal, the friends guide mortal armies against mortal armies, they influence kings to backstab each other. The mortals must be vigilant to the manipulations of the fiends on those around them. At the same time the mortals must trust those around them to fight the fiends and their minions physically.
Races:
Humans: The most numerous of the races
Elves: The longest lived of the mortal races, some elves remember when the gods left.
Dwarves: The fortitude of the dwarves has let them thrive where others have been eradicated.
Aasimar: Reminders that the celestials once existed
Tieflings: Pariah in the remaining mortal controlled countries, they are numerous in fiendish lands.
Giants: Fiends cannot control the giants so they are constantly at war, but the giants have no love for the smaller mortals.
Dragons: Semi-ntelligent fire breathing creatures, dragons love the taste of fiend flesh. Those corrupted by the fiends are vicious foes. Not metallic or chromatic
Orcs: Several large orc clans have fallen in with the fiends, curiously, the vast majority of orcs fight the fiends with great fervor. They work together tenuously with humans to defeat fiends when they can.
ElementalPsiForged: The Forged are partly responsible for arcane magic becoming illegal. The few Forged that were around when arcane casters began displaying the Taint became Tainted themselves. It immediately became illegal to create more forged. Since then ElementalPsiForged have been created.
Halflings, Gnomes, Goblins, & Kobolds: These weak races were long ago enslaved by the fiends and their spawn. Some remain in the free countries.
Classes:
Common:
Fighter
Ranger: Elf only
Rogue
Scout
Uncommon:
Binder (Pact Magic)
Crusader (Tome of Battle)
Druid: Elf only
Incarnate (Incarnum)
Monk:
RuneSage (Arcana Evolved Runethane): Dwarf only
RuneAdept (Arcana Evolved, modified Ref): Dwarf Only
RuneThane (Arcana Evolved, modified Fort): Dwarf Only
Elemental Caller: Shugenja (Complete Divine)
Soul Born (Incarnum)
Swordsage (Tome of Battle)
Marked, need to create a tattoo artist class for tattoos in Relics & Rituals
Warblade (Tome of Battle)
Rare:
Akashic (Arcana Evolved)
Favored Soul: Their weapon focus is that of whatever celestial they are descended from.
Paladin: To retain their powers Paladins follow celestials who followed their god of choice.
Sorcerer: Usually NPC
Warlock: NPC Only
Wizard: Usually NPC
Prestige Classes:
Inquisitor: Complete Divine
Smokeshaper (Fire Cleric PrC) Elemental Magic
Beast Tamer: Dragon(Giant Prc)
Knight of the Sacred Seal (Binder Prc) Tome of Magic
Witch Slayer (Binder Prc) Tome of Magic
Tainted Sorcerer (Sorcerer) Unearthed Arcana
Blighter (Druid Alternate) Unearthed Arcana
Occult Slayer (Complete Warrior)
Fiend Binder (292)
Fiend Slayer (287)
Magic:
Wizardry: Thought to be responsible for the rise of the fiends, Arcane magic has been outlawed in all civilized lands not under fiendish control. The use of arcane magic results in a slow fiendish taint of the practitioner.
Sorcery: Displays of fiend-born powers is a death sentence in non-fiend controlled lands.
Warlocks: Making permanent pacts with fiends is outlawed in non-fiend controlled lands.
Clerical Magic: When the gods fled, they took their magic with them.
Elemental Magic: Humans can cast Divine Elemental Magic.
Favored Soul Magic: Interbreeding with shape changed celestials provides the last rare vestiges of divine magic. Their powers became apparent as the ambient soul energy began building after the gods departed.
Paladin Magic: The divine rights of paladins proves, at least to the paladins, that the Gods still watch over them.
Pact Magic: Looked down upon for its strange manifestations, but the power of bindings cannot be taken lightly. All sources of power must be considered in the battle against the fiends. The carefully drawn protective circles remove the element of taint associated with Wizardry.
Incarnum: Long ago outlawed by the Gods themselves, the manipulation of Incarnum has seen a revival as an energy source since the abandonment by the Gods.
Druidic Magic: Their fey blood allows Elves to manipulate the natural world as Druids and Rangers. All elven magic requires singing as a component.
Rune Magic: Dwarves are the only users of the Runes, they guard this secret closely.
Blade Magic: Ancient fighting styles infused with power have seen revitalization since the gods have left. Used mostly by humans, but dwarves and elves each have a style. Orcs have several as well.
Psionics: The last gift the gods gave the mortals before they left.
Tattoo Magic: the Tattoos of the orcs aid them in destroying demons. Lords of Darkness (3.0), p. 189, AEG Mercenaries
All Races: Favored Soul, Paladin, Pact, Incarnum, Psionics, Blade
Human/Aasimar: Elemental
Elf: Druid
Dwarf: Rune
Orc: Tattoo
Half-Orc: Tattoo, Elemental,
ElementalPsiForged:, Elemental
Items:
Grafts/Symbionts
Elemental Grafts (Magic of Eberron)
Plant Grafts (Magic of Eberron)
Fiendish Grafts (Fiend Folio)
Forged Grafts (Faiths of Eberron)
Sithilar Grafts (Lords of Madness)
Symbionts (Magic od Eberron p153, ECS p298) They are fiendish…Only certain clans of somewhat crazed demon hunters use them for “good”. Otherwise they are used by fiendish servants.
Magical Items:
Arcane Items: by the current age all arcane items have become tainted. Merely carrying a tainted item causes the carrier to slowly become tainted. Certain holy wraps can be made to shield a carrier from becoming tainted. Special Touchstone locations can be used to cleanse a magic item for a certain amount of time before the taint seeps back in.
Divine Items: When the gods left the items their priests created in their names slowly began to fade away depending on the power of the item. A divine token was eventually found that allowed a mortal to invest bind his life energy to a previously Divine item, thus returning its magical power for him or his descendents.
Even the magical items created by the followers of Celestials are of a decaying nature, the celestials just do not have the capacity to grant permanent items.
Feats:
Bonded Item (Arcana Evolved)
Power of the Name (Arcana Evolved)
Rune Feats (Heroes of High Fantasy: Dwarves)
Magic:
Fiends/Celestials granting spells:
Fiends/Celestials can grant spells due to the abundance of soul energy since the departure of the gods. Mortals who wish to gain spells from a fiend or celestial must take a feat before they can take a PrC related to their patron.
Demon Thrall - Demon Lord
Disciple of Darkness - Archdevil
Knight of Stars - Eladrin Paragon
Servant of the Heavens - Archon Paragon
Favored of the Companions - Guardinal Paragon
Background
Celestials: The Celestial beings that chose to remain on the prime after the gods left have found themselves in a quandary. Many of the Celestials thought they would be heralded as saviors and that the mortals would flock to their banner of protection. Instead, in their grief and anger, many mortals lashed out at their “saviors” and rebuked them. As the mortals saw it, the gods left, so what was keeping the Celestials from leaving as well?
Not all mortals rejected the celestials, many priests and paladins have allied with celestials who worshiped the same god they did and fight the fiends with all their might.
As much as the mortals needs the celestials to grant what limited diving magic there is, the celestials need the mortals as well, for if a celestial dies while the Upper Planes are disconnected, they die. Many fiends would like to harvest the energy of a dead celestial.
A few celestials have risen to great power and command vast armies of mortals, some of these countries are rules as benevolent dictatorships, while others are harsh totalitarian states.
All comments are appreciated.
Raddu
