nerdronomicon
First Post
Do you and me both a favor, if you play in a game with me, don't read this thread. (this is a new user name for me so if you don't know, I'm Dexter the Rastafarian barbarian in Savage Tide and Nate Black the bard pirate in Freeport).
The world named Gihon (random name i took from the bible, i may change it) is flat. It was created by a powerful wizard in long ancient times as a refuge for the survivors of a dying world in another dimension.
No one now living is aware the world was created by a mortal. The religion of the gnomes comes closest to the truth. They alone believe the world runs on clockwork. It is their belief that the gnomes were created by a god they call the Great Engineer (among other titles) who taught the gnomes the science of clockwork and guided them in the construction of the world.
Gnomes have several, possibly thousands, of names for their god. They believe there is one true name for god but it is prohibited from being spoken. They also regard clockwork as a holy craft and have several names for it including The Sweet Science and The Riddle of Brass. So the gnomes are close, but no cigar. The gnomes live in a secret city that flies by means of giant dirigibles, secret clockwork devices and magic. The city is located at the center of the disk of Gihon over the ocean, hidden by an artificially created storm.
In the rest of the world clockwork is not so highly regarded. In many areas it is regarded with suspicion, in others it is outright forbidden.
Now at the time of the creation of the world the ancient wizard realized the world would need a god. He contacted Bahamut, lord of the dragons, and asked him to watch over and protect the world. Bahamut accepted, but he was followed by the evil Tiamat who opposes Bahamut wherever he reigns.
Bahamut and Tiamat serve as the principal deities for all the races of Gihon. Because of this dragons are especially revered on Gihon.
While this is a fantasy game, it'd like the religions to be portrayed in a slightly more realistic light. As such priests of any god can be any alignment. Bahamut and Tiamat are both worshiped and revered by both good and evil people. They pray to Bahamut for boons and influence within his portfolio. They pray to Tiamat for protection from her portfolio and to ward off disease, death and war.
The people of Gihon worship other gods as well. There are minor draconic demi-gods (as yet unnamed) as well as saints of various races. Many dwarves practice ancestor worship and many elves follow traditional nature deities.
Deity ideas:
Bahamut: protection, creation, dragons
Tiamat: death, disease, destruction, war
Gold: the sun, light, healing, knowledge
Silver: the moon, magic, night, the sea, cats
Black: death, punishment, justice
St. George: the dragonslayer
The Great Engineer: gnomes, creation, clockwork
The game takes place primarily on the western continent which is modeled after feudal Europe as well as the stereotypical fantasy world. The eastern continent is modeled after feudal Japan and ancient China. Southern continent is like Egyptian and Saudi Arabian myth. The northern continent is ruled by evil humanoids, goblins, orcs, kobolds, etc. Cold and icy most of the year, viking like culture.
The first series of adventures (heroic tier) will take place primarily on the western continent but here are some notes on the other areas.
East:
Asian culture, ninja, samurai, etc. Worship the celestial court and revere dragons. Other philosophies similar to Taoism and Zen Buddhism. Not sure how to portray them in a fantasy setting.
South:
Middle eastern. Similar to Arabian nights. Egyptian flare (pyramids, mummies). Nomadic tribes that worship djinn, dao, marid and genies. the age of the god-king pharaohs has passed. the genie worshipping religion is very new. in the cities it's pretty liberal. in the desert where the nomads roam, they practice a more fanatical version. clockwork is strictly prohibited here. i foresee an adventure revolving around the pc's being discovered with an ancient clockwork relic in an area dominated by fanatically religious nomads.
North:
continent fallen to the influence of Tiamat. Viking like culture and survive by raiding eastern and western continents.
COSMOLOGY:
When the world was first created the good and lawful wizard who built it imagined a perfect structured utopia. He built the world as a perfect disk. He created a huge gate to the plane of fire for a sun and a smaller one to the plane of water as the moon.
On the side where people were meant to live he built four triangular continents separated by a large x-shaped ocean. He set the world to orbit the sun on an elliptical orbit to provide four seasons. Because the distance from the sun changes with the seasons the sun changes size in the sky as the year progresses. The winter solstice falls on the day the sun appears smallest in the sky, the summer solstice when it appears largest, and the spring and fall equinoxes fall when the sun and the moon appear to be the same size in the sky. He made the orbit 360 days long and set the world spinning along a north-south axis to create day and night.
To help the inhabitants keep time he placed 12 constellations in the sky and set the world rotating around a central point at the center of the ocean. Because of the spin the sun always rises in the east and sets in the west. Because of the rotation it rises and sets in a different constellation each month. Because the orbit is 360-days long this forms a year of 12 equal 30-day months.
Gihon is in constant motion, orbiting the sun, spinning along it's axis and rotating about a central point.
To maintain this regular pattern of motion the entire other side of the planet is covered with a gargantuan clockwork mechanism. Some of the gears are so large that if an observer were to move far enough away to be able to see the entire gear, he would no longer be on the planet. Some are so small they can barely be seen without a magnifying glass. The entire thing is powered by an immense spring.
The wizard viewed any magic capable of granting immortality to be evil. In order to protect his works after his death he populated the far side with intelligent constructs. He also imparted the secret knowledge required to re-wind the spring to the gnomish workers who assisted him with the world's construction.
To see to the world's spiritual needs he invited Bahamut to come and serve as the patron of Gihon. Unfortunately Bahamut was followed by Tiamat, his evil female counterpart.
Eventually the wizard died and was entombed atop the largest gear on the far side. He had made every provision possible to protect the world and the people on it.
Unfortunately millenia passed and the secret knowledge imparted to the gnomes was lost or corrupted. The constructs on the far side fell into disrepair. And the twin gods Bahamut and Tiamat forgot their mortal worshipers as gods so often do.
Gihon is now immeasurably old. The knowledge, the servants, and the protectors left for it's inhabitants have all failed. The world is winding down and it's people are all alone.
The thing about the gods ignoring mortals doesn't mean divine magic doesn't work. the rituals, prayers and methods of manipulating divine magic taught to mortals and passed down through the generations still work, but no matter how hard their mortal worshippers pray, the gods aren't going to come and make this situation any better.
the way i see the campaign unfolding, the first half of the heroic tier will be to get the players used to the new world. the second half will include hints of what's to come including the discovery of an ancient clockwork relic. the first half of the paragon tier will revolve around learning more about the relic and finding the secret city of the gnomes. in the first part of the paragon tier signs that something is wrong will begin to be revealed. lots of earthquakes, freak storms, the sun starts rising in the wrong constellation for the time of year.
in the second half of the paragon tier the world finally stops. there's a massive earthquake at midnight and the sun never rises. the moon is at it's zenith when this happens and it happens to be a full moon, so those with lowlight vision operate okay. but the world gets very cold very quickly and plants stop growing. i am planning on using the concepts of the shadowfell and the feywild in this campaign. eladrin cities that were not destroyed by the earthquakes are able to survive by importing food from the eternal springtime of the feywild. those with enough courage to brave the shadowfell can bring back the strange and exotic food the inhabitants of that plain use to sustain themselves. but the food is suffused with the dark essence of the shadowfell and causes unforeseen changes in those who live this way. spellcasters, especially druids, do everything they can to provide magical sustenance. but people who live on conjured food for sustained periods also find themselves changing. although the consequences are not so dire as they are for those who survive on food from the shadowfell. the barbaric raiders from the north resort to cannibalism, and eventually, so do some of the more civilized people of the middle world. the leaders in the deserts to the south have become accustomed to supporting their people in times of famine. so ironically, their granaries keep the people of the desert alive longer than the people in the more fertile kingdoms to the north are able.
the first half of the epic tier will involve traveling to the far side of gihon to reset the spring and set the world back on its course through the heavens.
the second half of the epic tier will see the player characters return to the living side of gihon, and restoring the world to its proper balance as best they can. if they are successful and if both the players and i want to continue playing in gihon, a future game might take place generations later when the pc's are venerated as demi-gods.
classes:
Anything in PHB
I need druids eventually. I expect a supplement with druids will have been released by the time I need them, if not I'll use the player created version posted on enworld.
other classes in future supplements to be decided as they are released.
Races:
anything in phb
Gnomes: i need tinker gnomes not the brownies described in the new MM. I'll come up with something when I need it. They won't be available as a PC race unless a PC dies and a player replaces it with a gnome PC, and that option won't be available until the middle of the paragon tier.
warforged will be available as npc's and replacement characters or followers later in the game. can't say i like what they did with them in 4E so i may come up with my own homebrew construct race. i don't care if it makes it more balanced if the construct race can wear armor and catch the flu. i think it's dumb.
->Everything preceding this sentence is pretty sketchy, and i'm sure, rife with typos. I have a lot of notes and drawings in a notebook that i need to review and get in here. this is a campaign idea that's been kicking around in my head for a while. i want to polish it up and finish it, and get it going. i'm shooting to start it in january of next year but depending on when a game slot becomes available, i may start it sooner.
The world named Gihon (random name i took from the bible, i may change it) is flat. It was created by a powerful wizard in long ancient times as a refuge for the survivors of a dying world in another dimension.
No one now living is aware the world was created by a mortal. The religion of the gnomes comes closest to the truth. They alone believe the world runs on clockwork. It is their belief that the gnomes were created by a god they call the Great Engineer (among other titles) who taught the gnomes the science of clockwork and guided them in the construction of the world.
Gnomes have several, possibly thousands, of names for their god. They believe there is one true name for god but it is prohibited from being spoken. They also regard clockwork as a holy craft and have several names for it including The Sweet Science and The Riddle of Brass. So the gnomes are close, but no cigar. The gnomes live in a secret city that flies by means of giant dirigibles, secret clockwork devices and magic. The city is located at the center of the disk of Gihon over the ocean, hidden by an artificially created storm.
In the rest of the world clockwork is not so highly regarded. In many areas it is regarded with suspicion, in others it is outright forbidden.
Now at the time of the creation of the world the ancient wizard realized the world would need a god. He contacted Bahamut, lord of the dragons, and asked him to watch over and protect the world. Bahamut accepted, but he was followed by the evil Tiamat who opposes Bahamut wherever he reigns.
Bahamut and Tiamat serve as the principal deities for all the races of Gihon. Because of this dragons are especially revered on Gihon.
While this is a fantasy game, it'd like the religions to be portrayed in a slightly more realistic light. As such priests of any god can be any alignment. Bahamut and Tiamat are both worshiped and revered by both good and evil people. They pray to Bahamut for boons and influence within his portfolio. They pray to Tiamat for protection from her portfolio and to ward off disease, death and war.
The people of Gihon worship other gods as well. There are minor draconic demi-gods (as yet unnamed) as well as saints of various races. Many dwarves practice ancestor worship and many elves follow traditional nature deities.
Deity ideas:
Bahamut: protection, creation, dragons
Tiamat: death, disease, destruction, war
Gold: the sun, light, healing, knowledge
Silver: the moon, magic, night, the sea, cats
Black: death, punishment, justice
St. George: the dragonslayer
The Great Engineer: gnomes, creation, clockwork
The game takes place primarily on the western continent which is modeled after feudal Europe as well as the stereotypical fantasy world. The eastern continent is modeled after feudal Japan and ancient China. Southern continent is like Egyptian and Saudi Arabian myth. The northern continent is ruled by evil humanoids, goblins, orcs, kobolds, etc. Cold and icy most of the year, viking like culture.
The first series of adventures (heroic tier) will take place primarily on the western continent but here are some notes on the other areas.
East:
Asian culture, ninja, samurai, etc. Worship the celestial court and revere dragons. Other philosophies similar to Taoism and Zen Buddhism. Not sure how to portray them in a fantasy setting.
South:
Middle eastern. Similar to Arabian nights. Egyptian flare (pyramids, mummies). Nomadic tribes that worship djinn, dao, marid and genies. the age of the god-king pharaohs has passed. the genie worshipping religion is very new. in the cities it's pretty liberal. in the desert where the nomads roam, they practice a more fanatical version. clockwork is strictly prohibited here. i foresee an adventure revolving around the pc's being discovered with an ancient clockwork relic in an area dominated by fanatically religious nomads.
North:
continent fallen to the influence of Tiamat. Viking like culture and survive by raiding eastern and western continents.
COSMOLOGY:
When the world was first created the good and lawful wizard who built it imagined a perfect structured utopia. He built the world as a perfect disk. He created a huge gate to the plane of fire for a sun and a smaller one to the plane of water as the moon.
On the side where people were meant to live he built four triangular continents separated by a large x-shaped ocean. He set the world to orbit the sun on an elliptical orbit to provide four seasons. Because the distance from the sun changes with the seasons the sun changes size in the sky as the year progresses. The winter solstice falls on the day the sun appears smallest in the sky, the summer solstice when it appears largest, and the spring and fall equinoxes fall when the sun and the moon appear to be the same size in the sky. He made the orbit 360 days long and set the world spinning along a north-south axis to create day and night.
To help the inhabitants keep time he placed 12 constellations in the sky and set the world rotating around a central point at the center of the ocean. Because of the spin the sun always rises in the east and sets in the west. Because of the rotation it rises and sets in a different constellation each month. Because the orbit is 360-days long this forms a year of 12 equal 30-day months.
Gihon is in constant motion, orbiting the sun, spinning along it's axis and rotating about a central point.
To maintain this regular pattern of motion the entire other side of the planet is covered with a gargantuan clockwork mechanism. Some of the gears are so large that if an observer were to move far enough away to be able to see the entire gear, he would no longer be on the planet. Some are so small they can barely be seen without a magnifying glass. The entire thing is powered by an immense spring.
The wizard viewed any magic capable of granting immortality to be evil. In order to protect his works after his death he populated the far side with intelligent constructs. He also imparted the secret knowledge required to re-wind the spring to the gnomish workers who assisted him with the world's construction.
To see to the world's spiritual needs he invited Bahamut to come and serve as the patron of Gihon. Unfortunately Bahamut was followed by Tiamat, his evil female counterpart.
Eventually the wizard died and was entombed atop the largest gear on the far side. He had made every provision possible to protect the world and the people on it.
Unfortunately millenia passed and the secret knowledge imparted to the gnomes was lost or corrupted. The constructs on the far side fell into disrepair. And the twin gods Bahamut and Tiamat forgot their mortal worshipers as gods so often do.
Gihon is now immeasurably old. The knowledge, the servants, and the protectors left for it's inhabitants have all failed. The world is winding down and it's people are all alone.
The thing about the gods ignoring mortals doesn't mean divine magic doesn't work. the rituals, prayers and methods of manipulating divine magic taught to mortals and passed down through the generations still work, but no matter how hard their mortal worshippers pray, the gods aren't going to come and make this situation any better.
the way i see the campaign unfolding, the first half of the heroic tier will be to get the players used to the new world. the second half will include hints of what's to come including the discovery of an ancient clockwork relic. the first half of the paragon tier will revolve around learning more about the relic and finding the secret city of the gnomes. in the first part of the paragon tier signs that something is wrong will begin to be revealed. lots of earthquakes, freak storms, the sun starts rising in the wrong constellation for the time of year.
in the second half of the paragon tier the world finally stops. there's a massive earthquake at midnight and the sun never rises. the moon is at it's zenith when this happens and it happens to be a full moon, so those with lowlight vision operate okay. but the world gets very cold very quickly and plants stop growing. i am planning on using the concepts of the shadowfell and the feywild in this campaign. eladrin cities that were not destroyed by the earthquakes are able to survive by importing food from the eternal springtime of the feywild. those with enough courage to brave the shadowfell can bring back the strange and exotic food the inhabitants of that plain use to sustain themselves. but the food is suffused with the dark essence of the shadowfell and causes unforeseen changes in those who live this way. spellcasters, especially druids, do everything they can to provide magical sustenance. but people who live on conjured food for sustained periods also find themselves changing. although the consequences are not so dire as they are for those who survive on food from the shadowfell. the barbaric raiders from the north resort to cannibalism, and eventually, so do some of the more civilized people of the middle world. the leaders in the deserts to the south have become accustomed to supporting their people in times of famine. so ironically, their granaries keep the people of the desert alive longer than the people in the more fertile kingdoms to the north are able.
the first half of the epic tier will involve traveling to the far side of gihon to reset the spring and set the world back on its course through the heavens.
the second half of the epic tier will see the player characters return to the living side of gihon, and restoring the world to its proper balance as best they can. if they are successful and if both the players and i want to continue playing in gihon, a future game might take place generations later when the pc's are venerated as demi-gods.
classes:
Anything in PHB
I need druids eventually. I expect a supplement with druids will have been released by the time I need them, if not I'll use the player created version posted on enworld.
other classes in future supplements to be decided as they are released.
Races:
anything in phb
Gnomes: i need tinker gnomes not the brownies described in the new MM. I'll come up with something when I need it. They won't be available as a PC race unless a PC dies and a player replaces it with a gnome PC, and that option won't be available until the middle of the paragon tier.
warforged will be available as npc's and replacement characters or followers later in the game. can't say i like what they did with them in 4E so i may come up with my own homebrew construct race. i don't care if it makes it more balanced if the construct race can wear armor and catch the flu. i think it's dumb.
->Everything preceding this sentence is pretty sketchy, and i'm sure, rife with typos. I have a lot of notes and drawings in a notebook that i need to review and get in here. this is a campaign idea that's been kicking around in my head for a while. i want to polish it up and finish it, and get it going. i'm shooting to start it in january of next year but depending on when a game slot becomes available, i may start it sooner.
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