Libertad
Hero
Drive-Thru RPG Store Page.
Modiphius Store Page. Right now you can only get the PDF by preordering the physical book. Around September you should be able to buy the PDF separately.
Before Baldur’s Gate 3 came onto the scene, there was only one video game RPG that explicitly used the 5th Edition system. As the studio was a small independent outfit, Tactical Adventures made a special deal with Wizards of the Coast to incorporate a modified version of the OGL. Taking place in a homebrewed world, Solasta: Crown of the Magister was a bonafide fantasy dungeon crawl experience incorporating many iconic elements we all know and love. As the OGL versions of the core rules are quite sparse on their own, original content was made to allow for a more complete feeling, ranging from various subclasses and a crafting system to new lore and monsters. Such as the wicked race of shapeshifting lizards known as the Sorr-Akath, who served as the major antagonists of the first campaign. With two DLC campaigns and a Dungeon Maker to allow players to make their own custom adventures (including an entire conversion of the Temple of Elemental Evil!), Solasta managed to make quite a complete game given their size and resources.
The wider lore of the world of Solasta was briefly touched on in the game itself, and while there was a campaign sourcebook, it was a KickStarter exclusive that only around a thousand people had access to. The community was remarkably loyal in that fileshared PDFs weren’t really passed around. As time went on, one of the most frequent demands was to make the sourcebook available for sale, which due to licensing agreements Tactical Adventures was unable to do until very recently. Due to the addition of new content in the video game, this is an updated version of the old sourcebook, notably including all of the new subclasses from the DLC. With a recently purchased PDF sitting on my hard drive, I’m eager to share with you the tales of the realm of Solasta!
Introduction & Chapter 1: What Is Solasta?
Our book opens up with a series of in-character journal entries written by two individuals who left on an adventuring expedition into a newly-opened road into the Badlands. This spell-scarred stretch of land is where a grand empire once stood, before a Cataclysm changed the world forever. The expedition gradually goes south, as some unseen foes begin to silently kill members of the group over time, eventually causing them to take shelter in a series of ruins. The dreadful truth is that their pursuers are the Sorr-Akath, a race of reptilian humanoids once thought to be the stuff of legend, and one of them impersonated a member of the group before being found out and tortured to death.
The Introduction gives a kind of horror-tinged dark fantasy feel, where the kinds of places adventurers go into are realms of terror where one is bound to befall all manner of maladies. While Solasta is more on the standard fantasy side of things, it does a good job of playing up how the setting’s primary antagonists mess with people’s heads.
Chapter One gives a general rundown of the setting’s history and major themes. The world as it’s known is called Solasta, and the continent of Ferandragh is the section of world that comprises the known setting, which had much of it ruled over by the Manacalon Empire. This Empire came about in earliest recorded history, when dragons and elves warred against each other. The Dragons won, but in order to gain the consent of the people they ruled they turned a trusted circle of elven servants into puppet rulers. These rulers told the elven populace that they had won the war and the dragons retreated into unknown lands. Meanwhile, the dragons used polymorph spells to walk among the elves, changing their society into an authoritarian high magic empire that invaded and conquered the other races. Non-elves became slaves, and the elves who objected to these new ways broke off in a series of rebellions, being pushed into the eastern forests and becoming the subrace of sylvan elves. Meanwhile, the imperial elves became the high elves. The Manacalon Empire managed to conquer all lands save for the far north, where various runaway slaves, governments in exile, and others fled. The land was poor in resources, but the dwarves made great fortifications in the mountains.
The Empire’s downfall would come during the Cataclysm. At this point in history, the concept and existence of gods was unknown, and horses and other forms of riding animals weren’t native to the plane. For long-distance travel magic was used, such as teleportation circles. But bordering Solasta’s Material Plane was an alternate one known as Tirmar, home to humans, gods, and the Sorr-Akath. The Sorr-Akath were making great gains in conquering much of that world, including taking over one of the most popular gods, forcing the rest of them to find a new world for humans to escape. A Rift opened up in the Empire’s capital, and the high elves treated the human refugees as invaders and massacred many of them, forcing them north.
This would prove to be the Manacalon’s first of several mistakes. They had gained humans as an enemy, but humans had several things going for them: first off, they had gods and thus divine magic, mastering various spells unknown to the people of Solasta. They also had horses, and used Mongolian archer-style cavalry tactics to strike at the high elves. The humans would pass on these unique gifts to the other races who were enemies of the Empire, and in so doing helped cement their race as a rising power in the world to come after the Cataclysm.
The Sorr-Akkath also came across the Rift, at first in secret but then as great armies. For the first time in history the Manacalon Empire and its enemies signed a nonaggression pact to find a way to close the Rift and be rid of the Sorr-Akkath. The Magister, the leader of the Empire, along with some of the greatest mages, ventured to the Rift to close it. They drew on the mana of the world itself, which disrupted the flow of magic worldwide. This closed the Rift, but caused widespread destruction. Dormant volcanoes erupted, destroying many dragon hatcheries which the volcanoes served as incubators for. Arcane magic ceased to work and became a lost art for centuries. Natural disasters of various kinds swept across the land, and Aer-Elai, the central province of the Empire, turned into a wasteland now known as the Badlands.
The Empire fell, causing new kingdoms to rise in its stead. While the magical knowledge and power of the old days would never come again, new innovations such as divine magic and cavalry arose with the aid of humans. Over time the world itself healed, gradually restoring arcane magic. While there is a New Empire claiming to be on the way in reclaiming the “good old days” (for high elves), it is an empire in name only and most civilizations are independent kingdoms and settlements at the feudal level.
Campaign Themes covers the elements best emphasized in a Solasta campaign. As you can expect, the history of the elven empire and the Cataclysm that arose from it are major elements, for the ruins of the past serve as the primary “dungeon crawls” in this world, with knowledge and artifacts without comparison that cannot be found anywhere else. Many groups, from various adventuring parties to the nations of the land, all have their own agents seeking to claim such fines first and foremost. The Principality of Masgarth’s proximity to the best routes into the Badlands makes it a valuable economic power that have caused all manner of political dirty tricks, from conspiracies to assassinations, in order to gain favored access. Finally, the setting has a central Evil group to fight: the god Sorr-Tarr and his race of devout Sorr-Akkath, who seek to plunge Solasta into warfare again and open the Rift in order to take it over. By using cults, shapeshifting, and their status as being believed extinct, they sabotage positions of power across the land to spread conflict and strife.
Thoughts: Solasta’s history goes down the checklist of Typical Fantasy Tropes. We have the Fallen Empire, Elves being awesome and awesomely racist, powerful Dragons now In decline, Not-Sauron and Not-Orcs forcing the Four Tolkien Races to unite against him, and an entire industry of ruin-delving adventurers seeking treasure from the Fallen Empire. The less conventional aspects I spot are that not once, but twice did shapeshifting lizards infiltrate the halls of power to reshape society to their whims. Insert David Icke joke here. Another difference is that while humans are a rising power, the book gives explicit reasons for their prominence in the world besides vague gestures of “ambition” or high reproduction rates. Making them be responsible for horses and divine magic is a neat touch, although I will say that the idea of Solasta not having mounts at all begs the question of just how easy it is for even commoners of the Manacalon Empire to use teleportation networks. From what I got from the video game, such things are mostly placed in strategic areas. For more rural and typical trade outside the big cities, travel would be quite limited if foot traffic is the norm.
Chapter 2: Ferandragh
This chapter is the gazetteer of Solasta, detailing 12 nations/regions of the world and the pantheon of six gods. Ferandragh is the continent that the Manacalon Empire almost entirely took over, and any other lands beyond aren’t really detailed in this book. Broadly, the continent is divided into two broad regions: the Eastern Nations are closest to the Badlands and were the center of many conflicts. A geopolitical alliance of nations here signed a Three-Century Pact to put a temporary end to war, while the Legacy Council hosts representatives from these various nations to govern regulation and trade for the adventuring economy that evolved out of exploring the Badlands. The Western Nations instead are focused on control over the Avendore River, which runs between the northern Inner Sea and Southern Ocean and is an economic powerhouse for any kingdoms that claim it. The river’s namesake nation of Avendore doesn’t control all of it, for its neighbors promised mutual defense pacts to go to war if they get too greedy in controlling it.
An interesting note I’d like to point out is that humans aren’t the racial majority in Solasta; there’s only a few kingdoms where they have a clear majority, and most regions tend to have either a more cosmopolitan demographic spread or near-monoracial makeup. The latter of which are explicitly nonhuman regions. If we want to break things down, there’s only 1 nation where they have even percentages with other races (Masgarth), 1 where they have a plurality (Avendore at 40%), 8 where they’re a minority (Colthannin, Gallivan, the 2 Hill Dwarf Kingdoms, New Empire, Olme Fen, Snow Alliance, Southern Islands), and only 2 where they have a clear majority (Borealis at 80%, Salvanneth at 60%). For the minority ones, the ones with the highest percentages are Gallivan and the Snow Alliance at 25%, with Colthannin at 15% and the Hill Dwarf Kingdoms at 5%.
What this tells us is that Solasta is a world where humans aren’t necessarily the “norm.” Your Stereotypical Medieval Fantasy Village isn’t guaranteed to have round-ears around every corner, and the Tolkien Fantasy Races aren’t necessarily secluded off into their own specific patches of land or big cosmopolitan population centers.
The Principality of Masgarth is the kingdom where the original Solasta campaign is set. It is a cosmopolitan monarchy with various duchies and guilds that run things at more local levels. In terms of race there’s an even mixture of humans, dwarves, and elves with a halfling minority, and its proximity to the Badlands and reliable routes make it the unofficial adventurer capital of the continent. Additionally, a restored teleportation circle in the capital city of Caer Cyflen makes it a vital trade hub. Masgarth’s neighbors all would like to take such bounty for themselves, so the kingdom relies on political subterfuge to encourage any rivals in sabotaging each other instead. The Legacy Council is in theory a multinational academic institution focused on preserving and rediscovering the secrets of the Manacalon Empire for societal improvement, but in truth they all play nice on the surface and view each other to varying degrees of rivalry in claiming the best finds first.
The Kingdom of Gallivan is more solidly a monarchy than Masgarth, for everyone’s rank in society is predetermined by their parents’ station. An Assembly of Nobles votes on matters affecting the whole kingdom, where the amount of votes a person has depends on their feudal rank. While the King can in theory be checked by a majority vote, in practice this has never happened, but the possibility has often been enough to keep the King from going too power-hungry. That being said, the current King looks forward to the Three-Century Pact ending soon, for it will give him the opportunity to invade Masgarth and gain access to its trade networks. While Gallivan has a slight high elven majority, it has cast off the racial supremacy of the Manacalon Empire and non-elves can also be found among the ranks of the nobility as well. Trade and cultural exchange with sylvan elves in Colthannin makes the kingdom famous for magical wood-warping techniques, with living trees molded into all sorts of buildings and furniture.
The New Empire has its origins from a high elven warlord who was lucky enough to have enough troops after the Cataclysm to hold onto the remnants of his territory. Without having access to arcane magic of the past, this petty kingdom became ever more reliant on slaves to power its economy, a practice that is implied to be illegal elsewhere in Ferandragh. In addition to being open about wanting to retake the Manacalon Empire’s old borders and only high elves being free people, they’re pretty much a pariah state disliked by everyone. Their major source of soft power projection is taking advantage of desperate communities in the Marches (section of less-dangerous Badlands home to scattered isolated settlements), promising to give them regular shipments of resources and protection from monsters in exchange for letting the Empire establish military bases there. The New Empire is also home to the Silver Whisper, an intelligence network and secret police that also operates internationally and has a fearful reputation throughout the continent.
Various facets about the New Empire are contradicted throughout the book, specifically in regards to its religious traditions. This chapter says that the realm has no official religion, maintaining that magic itself and the Emperor are the ultimate power and authority respectively, although many people worship the gods in secret. The Religion section later on says that temples to Einar are popular all across the land, and his temples can be found everywhere save the New Empire. But in the next chapter of Caer Cyflen, Einar is said to even have some temples in the New Empire. Additionally, Maraike’s worship is tolerated by the New Empire’s high elves, but only the ruling class are allowed to receive aid by her priests.
The Snow Alliance is the northernmost nation of Ferandragh, a diverse society of mostly snow dwarves (new subrace) along with humans, sylvan elves, and halflings along with other races, and its land is home to the most multi-racial communities. While there was always a network of some sort, the Alliance as a federalist form of government arose from legions of undead spilling out of the Badlands, creating more explicit ties and promises of mutual defense between communities. The central government only handles a few major tasks, with everything else being delegated to local clans. Every community sends two representatives to the Assembly, which is irrespective of land size or population. In theory this is to ensure that even the most meager settlements have an equal voice, but the larger communities still hold sway due to economic dominance, such as the ones controlling trade routes into other lands.
Borealis is the northernmost of the Western Kingdoms, and was one of the few lucky communities to remain out of the Manacalon Empire’s reach due to its remoteness. Its government is a curious blend of secular oligarchs tasked with managing economic affairs and a theocracy that handles everything else. Both forms of government frequently attempt to gain more power and influence at the expense of the other, and the trade guilds have monopolies in their respective fields to the point that even the clothes one wears is mandated by their laws. Borealis is also one of the only two nations in the setting with a clear human majority at 80% of the population. Einar is the most popular deity, albeit Pakri is essential for the educated class and those who maintain the laws.
The Realm of Avendore used to be a rural frontier region during the days of the Manacalon Empire, but it recovered faster after the Cataclysm and had the power to repulse invading neighbors. In spite of its wealth and influence, the Eastern Nations rejected its offer of membership in the Legacy Council. Therefore its government is conducting its own independent expeditions into the Badlands and floating the idea of setting up a Western Council. Avendore is a monarchy in theory, but its King is a lazy ruler. Families of rival merchants are the true power in the land, fighting amongst each other but portraying themselves as a united guild to outsiders who don’t know better.
The Hill Dwarf Kingdoms are the westernmost nations of Ferandragh, divided into the Northern and Southern Kingdoms. They had a common cultural origin in pre-Cataclysm times as the Fire Mountain Kingdom, but earth-shattering events caused most of them to flee to the surface. Generations of isolation from each other caused two distinct cultures and royal bloodlines to arise, but instead of being enemies they decided they’d be stronger together as trading partners. They’re your typical Fantasy Dorf Realms, although their noble leaders are given titles by consent by the governed rather than birthright and are frequently deposed if they don’t live up to expectations. There’s a growing trend among rich dwarves in aping sylvan elven culture via imports of their goods. Poorer dwarves take issue with this, feeling that they’re become less culturally dwarven over time.
The Kingdom of Salvanneth used to be a patchwork assembly of autonomous towns ruled over by local warlords, but invasions from Avendore and the New Empire forced them to appoint a noble leader to prevent foreign domination. This came from pressure by the merchant class against the wishes of many warlord-turned-nobles, and it's only through trade that this fragile state of affairs manages to hold together. Many citizens of Salvanneth treat their home regions and towns as being equally important, if not more so, than any national identity. A common cultural factor is reverence for nature, and even more fancy luxury items incorporate rustic aesthetics such as carved bone and furs.
Olme Fen dominates the continent’s northeast, and isn’t a nation or kingdom so much as a region. Home to the Marsh Halflings, they are a rural people who live subsistence-level in swampland and the primary social unit are extended families banding together to make a larger settlement. They are aware of the outside world, but based on what they hear from outsiders they think it is a crazy place best avoided. And beyond some trade with sylvan elves from Colthannin, most outsiders have little interest in them. Marsh halfling religion is based on folkloric tales of spirits to be appeased or avoided, but deities are considered foreign and therefore not to be trusted. That being said, Maraike receives some worship as her portfolio is most useful to their way of life.
The Forest of Colthannin dominates the continent’s far east and is the traditional homeland of the sylvan elves. Like the high elves, they too had their own teleportation network linking settlements that also collapsed during the Cataclysm. They were eager adopters of the gods and divine magic, grateful in learning of the ways of human newcomers to make up for the loss of arcane magic. The Forest is ruled over by a King, but local settlements are governed by a council of elders.
The Southern Islands are the traditional homeland of Island Halflings, the other major halfling subrace of Solasta. They’re basically a whole race of lovable swashbuckling rogues who believe that life should be celebrated and are famous for their culinary innovations, songs, and storytellers. They have a presence in every port city and have trade networks across the continent. During the days of the Manacalon Empire they used superior naval skills to keep themselves free, and they still engage in lower-scale piracy against the New Empire.
The Marches can be summed up as the “outer Badlands,” being next to said territory but not as severe. It is a lawless region of self-sufficient communities which more or less have to be on a constant battle footing due to the ample dangers of the region. It is a common waypoint for adventurers traveling via the Copperhead Road, and strange magical phenomena and malfunctions that occur in the Badlands happen here as well but with less frequency. Just about every kind of community and system of government can be found here, with the only commonality being the lack of large, connected geopolitical territories. The town of Coparann is the most well-known settlement, as the Legacy Council has in the works a project to turn it into a major trading station for adventuring into the Badlands. Coparann’s major economic output is its mines, but it has some outlying farming communities that feed the town. Unlike the other regions in this chapter, the Marches and Coparann have sample encounters and adventure hooks. Nothing too detailed, basically short paragraphs to fire up the DM’s imagination.
Thoughts: A lot of the regions are quite brief and tend to strongly hew to one theme: the New Empire are your Lawful Evil Racist Slave Owners, the Southern Islands are your Fun-Loving Pirates, Olme Fen are your Backwoods Superstitious Swamp People, and so on. The Principality of Masgarth gets the most coverage and adventuring opportunity, which in a way makes sense as that’s where the video game’s default campaign takes place. Sadly, besides Masgarth and the Marches, most places don’t really have any built-in big adventure hooks beyond broad and vague mentions. Sure, Borealis has Corrupt Medieval Megacorps in the form of trade guilds and Salvanneth is a fractured realm of stubbornly independent fiefdoms, but we don’t have specific examples of notable NPCs or locations that set the DM’s mind alight with inspirational fire. Compare this to something like the 3rd Edition setting guides to Eberron or the Forgotten Realms, high-quality 3rd party settings like Kobold Press’ Midgard. Such books grant us a wealth of this kind of material, that can make even more obscure nations have a lot of adventure ideas.
Religion
The world of Solasta differs from other DnD fantasy settings in that the gods don’t have a hand in the creation of the world, nor were they here since time immemorial. They came through the Rift with human refugees, and were soon adopted by other cultures. There are six gods that are the most popular and well-known, and the book notes that there are other deities known in Solasta (and also ones that didn’t make it out of Tirmar), but they aren’t detailed.
Einar is the Lawful Good God of Valor and Fidelity, your stereotypical defender of the meek and fighter against evil and injustice. His teachings encourage good behavior and his temples fund various orders of warriors, healers, and lawyers to ensure that people’s needs are being met. This makes Einar the most popular god in Solasta by far, and his Church has near-universal good publicity.
Pakri is the Lawful Neutral Goddess of Law and Learning, responsible for giving humanity the capability to learn and improve. Their priests typically work as scholars and lawyers of various sorts, and their temples are the largest repositories of written lore in many population centers. The two major Orders among her followers have ideological differences: the Order of the Book are lawyer-priests who primarily serve the needs of the wealthy, while the Order of the Owl are travelers who primarily aid poor and rural populations in the matters of healing, education, and legal assistance. The Owls view the Books as having been corrupted by the pursuit of wealth, while the Books view the Owls as having strayed too much from the path of law by tolerating “rabble-rousers” and “malcontents.”
Maraike is the Neutral Goddess of Life and Death, worshiped in dual facets as a protector of women* and the sick, and an avenger of the wronged. Maraike’s temples and priests primarily act as healers and gravekeepers. Two organizations of interest to adventuring types include the Order of Life Regnant who are traveling healers and warriors, and the Order of Oblivion who search for and destroy necromancers and undead for crimes against the natural cycle of life and death.
*This implies that Solasta may be a patriarchal setting, which from playing the video game I didn’t get, as there were quite a number of women in various occupations as well as adventurers.
Arun is the Neutral God of the Elements, and through that the natural world. Arun used to be the leader of Tirmar’s pantheon and the first to be worshiped by humans, and his base of worshipers is very diverse: druids, farmers, sailors, and basically anyone whose livelihood depends on said elements and nature. While many clerics often specialize in one of four elements, it is encouraged to branch out and high-ranking priests almost always master all four.
Misaye is the Chaotic Neutral Goddess of Mischief, looking out for anyone who balks at authority and the burden of rules. Misaye also holds influence over luck and battle, which are less popular aspects. Given the large number of criminal types among her faithful, the worship of Misaye is outlawed in most places, with the exception being Colthannin and among sylven elf communities in the Snow Alliance. As to why, the sylven elves seem to like her whimsical personality.
Sorr-Tarr/Arivad is the Lawful Evil God of Evil, and a story of two gods in one. Arivad was a Timarian god of law and justice, a proto-Einar who was a shining example for good in that world. Sor-Tarr was the evil god responsible for empowering the Sorr-Akath, and the two gods waged endless battles against each other. When it seemed that Arivad would triumph once and for all, Sorr-Tarr sought to switch from open warfare to sabotage. Arivad’s followers were so infected, becoming little better than tyrannical bullies who saw Sorr-Tarr’s growing influence as all the more reason to do “whatever it takes” in order to defeat evil. Even Arivad came around to thinking this way, and the Timarian Inquisition gained a foul reputation for condemning many innocents to death. Once it seemed that Sorr-Tarr’s armies were defeated for good, they invented other threats to maintain their power. In reality, Sorr-Tarr managed to find a way to merge with Arivad when it became clear that the latter god’s power was coming from his hated foe. Refusing to give up such power, Arivad merged with Sorr-Tarr into one god, and the remaining good nature of Arivad split off to become Einar.
While Arivad’s fall from grace and the Timarian Inquisition are well-known among human historians, the god’s merging with Sorr-Atarr is almost unknown. Even most Sorr-Akath regard Arivad as a fallen enemy rather than presently residing in their deity. Thus, most followers of Solasta’s sole evil deity are split into two primary groups: worshipers of Arivad typically seek some form of power or vengeance, often in an ends justify the means style of “hard men making hard decisions.” Worshipers of Sorr-Tarr are the Sorr-Akath and their brainwashed servants.
Thoughts: I do like how most of the gods have specific named Orders that contribute to the adventuring lifestyle or have a clear hook for a PC Cleric to explain how they got their training. Another thing I like is that Solasta’s pantheon is rather peculiar, since four of the six deities are neutral on the moral alignment axis. Said deities’ portfolios are closer to cosmic concepts than moral living; Misaye and Pakri may have worshipers inclined towards certain ethical outlooks, but their dominion over law vs freedom counts equal numbers of justice-seekers, tyrants, freedom fighters, and criminals. In this way, it can make sense to have religious orders who worship the same god be given over to sectarianism; Misaye encourages rule-breaking for the sake of it and warriors on both sides of the battlefield pray to her, while Arun is someone you go to to get a fruitful harvest or a little more wind in your sails for a swift voyage, rather than asking for moral guidance. Einar serves the general purpose for those who want Clerics who “live righteously,” and Sorr-Tarr is the only evil god and is more or less hated by the rest of the pantheon and illegal to worship virtually everywhere. Which is fine, given he’s the setting’s designated BBEG.
That being said, I do feel that the six gods we have are kind of sparse. While I understand that when designing the video game they didn’t want to bloat things up too much as they already had a lot of Cleric Domains, a few alignments and popular portfolios are lacking. Like the lack of a Forge/Creation deity for example, although I suppose Arun can fill that niche given his mastery over the elements. As for alignment, there’s no real option for Chaotic Good and Evil Clerics and religious types besides Misaye, which push those archetypes into the Rogue/Criminal side of things by association.
Thoughts So Far: Solasta hews very close to a lot of generic fantasy tropes, which is unsurprising as the CRPG sold itself as being “DnD 5e, but a video game.” So having a certain level of familiarity was a smart and safe choice rather than going too out there with something like Dark Sun or Eberron. And in the places that it does depart from the tropes, there are some neat and nifty ideas that grab one’s attention. Like humans having a more unique origin story and role while also not being omnipresent in the world. My major criticisms are that the rest of the world beyond Masgarth/the Badlands need more hooks for adventuring types, as they feel too bland in comparison to the “default” region.
Join us next time as we cover the city of Caer Cyflen and the treacherous region known as the Badlands!
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