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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Benthicus" data-source="post: 5401349" data-attributes="member: 100281">Hi, so I'm kind of new to the EN World forums, and I have some ideas for a campaign setting that I wanted to bounce around. I've always been kind of obsessed with the idea of running a game in a fully aquatic setting, meaning under the ocean's surface, and characters with swim speeds and gills. There are a couple of undersea settings out there (Sea of Fallen Stars and the Sea of Ishamark), but they all seem to be missing a certain something. What I want to create is a world that is believable, and that uses traditional D&D creatures and races (but putting a new spin on each of them).I realize that the idea might seem a little strange to some people, but I love any kind of setting goes beyond traditional fantasy and into the weird and exotic. So, I'll just go through some of my ideas, and some of the places where I'm having trouble. People should know first-hand that I've taken a lot of ideas from The Deep, the underwater sourcebook, so thank you Ms. Susannah Redelfs. Also, I'm not really a 4th edition person, I like Pathfinder, so if anyone has recommendations for how to better use that system, please share.My core races include: Merfolk, Locathah, Sea Elves, Tritons, Crabfolk, Malenti (Elven/Sahuagin mutants), and Cecaelians (Octopus merfolk)I'm mostly doing okay with the different races and their roles in the setting, but the Locathah need to be fleshed out more. They're normally portrayed as unpredictable sea-barbarians, but I want them to be more civilized. The setting itself is (tentatively) called the Sea of Pelagia, which sounds a bit generic. Other names I've considered include Tethys, Bathys, Benthys, Ahto, Azulia, Demorost and Tannim. It covers a huge coastline along the world's largest continent, roughly equivalent to the area between the Bering Strait and Indonesia. Pelagian culture is dominated by four "mega-cities" created from natural coral reefs. The setting is otherwise very open and wild. I want there to be a lot to explore, sunken ruins, shipwrecks, undersea caverns, etc.This is definitely a high-magic setting. Most underwater civilizations wouldn't  get past the stone age without magic and alchemy. The whole system for how spells are recorded has to do with coral (an idea I borrowed from the Deep). Basically, wizards imprint their spells on living coral, and thus create a shared spellbook to store magic and information (kinda like a computer). It gives the wizards a reason to protect their environment. Magic is also important in how people get around in the ocean. An organization of wizards harness the power of currents to instantly transport convoys to different places around the sea (another idea I took from the Deep). I've designed a whole system of currents for Pelagia. Despite the instant transit stuff, I want Pelagia to be geographically isolated from the rest of the world's oceans, and I haven't yet figured out a good way to explain that. I don't want it to be an inland sea, I just want to keep things manageable.Here are a few places where I'm still having trouble. Gods and religion - I'm not sure how big of a role the gods should play in this setting, or if there even should be gods in the first place. History - I know this is one that I kind of have to handle myself, but I'm just having trouble with the scope of it. I started by writing a short timeline that covered prehistoric times to the modern day, but it just got ridiculous. If I could just get some advice on the process for writing a setting history (how other people went about it), that would be great.Antagonists - What role should the more "evil" races play? I've got some ideas for the Aboleth, and after reading "The Sea Devils" from 2ed I think I know what I want with the Sahuagin. What about folks like the Kuo-Toa, Ixitxachitl, or the Krakens?I'd love to hear people's own ideas, and answer any questions. I realize there's a lot of stuff I haven't elaborated on, like magic and core races, but I plan to do that more later on in the thread.</blockquote>

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