Loretober: A Fantasy Worldbuilding Challenge for October!

[RangerWickett]

Old Gods:

The region known as the Pleian Basins was made up of numerous low mountain ridges creating dozens of small river valleys, enough to support isolated cultures but hardly worth the effort of sending caravans to for trading. They were mostly left alone and little thought of before that entire region vanished a century ago in the mists we today call The Limbo.

Even before then, the gods of that region had far fewer worshipers than those enshrined atop the great ziggurat in No-Ostalin, and today only a handful pray to the forgotten gods of the Pleian. But strangely, those gods still deliver miracles to their faithful. How is this possible with so few remembering their names and giving them offerings? Do the old faiths swallowed by The Limbo survive somewhere?

The Pleian gods belonged to three main Realms - sky, water, and fire, representing broadly creation, preservation, and destruction. Offerings were typically made in conflicts called Flower Wars, ritualized small-scale combat to decide disputes, wherein the losers' deaths would be accepted as sacrifices. No-Ostalin in its grand civility has forbidden all human sacrifice except for condemned murderers and heretics, but records of past, less-enlightened eras attest that such offerings earned great rewards.

Paramount of the Sky realm was Bedima, god of the starry night, where dreams were said to come from, for dreams were the foundation upon all the world was built. The philosophy of the Sky realm was that the duty of all souls was to create, to keep the world alive by never staying the same too long.

In the Water realm, Kathal was the goddess of storms and fertility, emissary between the realms of fire and water, and mother of a minor god in each those realms. Her rains would sap thunderous power from the sky, and would quench the destructive rage of the fire. The philosophy of the Water realm was to seek understanding by mingling oneself with others, for the world was just one great living thing that was trying to know itself.

The foremost of the Fire realm was Kithala, a god whose temple was said to maintain an eternal hearth to keep alive the souls of all those slain in war. This kept them from returning to the heaven where they could be reborn. The philosophy of the Fire realm was that the world was a place of torment, and mankind would only be freed from it by exhausting all the souls in the heavens and letting darkness give birth to something better.

 

[RangerWickett]

Nightlife:

The second great city of Ostalin is Eshkital, which through blessings of the goddess Chebas mastered the river on whose banks it lies. One manifestation of this is a part of the city called The Rambles, formerly a sprawl of rocky islets that could be walked between during the dry half of the year, when the level of the river was low. The Eshkitalers used dikes to protect the land between those rocky outcroppings, turning the Rambles into a meandering garden punctuated by upper class mansions and public halls built on what were once islands.

Six nights out of the week, the Rambles hosts performances of music, dance, and theater. Aspiring musicians find eager audiences here, though they cannot perform with a license granted by the city, which is meant to maintain a certain decorum and orthodoxy in the district's art scene. Likewise, the prosperous houses in the district strive for prestige by providing the best entertainment or maintaining the most beautiful arbors.

The inland edge of the Rambles is bordered by thick hedges, meant to funnel traffic through seven gateways. The threshold of each gate is marked by a kelma-blessed dictate, a gift to the city from a Logos devoted to one of the city's patron gods, merciful Imsaia. Within 12 cubits of these tablets, any items stolen since the last dawn cause the bearer to be weighed down and pinned to the ground unless freed by a priest. Thus, people relaxing amid the Rambles feel safe to flaunt their jewelry and finery - and thieves often lurk just outside the area, hoping to rob complacent revelers on their way home.

The most unique aspect of the Rambles are the pirate performances. As the district is separated from the river only by dikes a few cubits thick, performers who cannot get a license - often because their music is deemed vulgar or sacrilegious, but also simply because they steal the works of others - can simply row a boat to the edge of the dike and sing loud enough for those inside to hear.

 

[Edgar Ironpelt]

Loretober 3: Prophecy
Lady Torishar of the House of Broktus had invited Master Seztrim of Ylide to her Doomsday Party. This was a daring and even scandalous move, not because Master Seztrim was a scaly lizardman with psi powers, but because he was a slave dealer. The men of the House could and did do a regular business with him, but not the women - never the women.

In the event, Master Seztrim was his usual well-dressed and cosmopolitan self, and avoided even hinting at his profession - at least until the very end. He was wheedled into reading the auras of the women present and offering them foretellings. Banal foretellings, until he came to Lady Oridisa, the year-older sister of Torishar. To her he said, "Six years from now, you will not own gold or gems. Instead, gold and gems will own you."

Three months after that Doomsday Party came the evil day when Torishar and Oridisa were forced to draw lots. Torishar won, and received the family's dowry funds. Oridisa lost, and provided those funds by being sold and sent into a genteel slavery in far-off Enamine. And six years later, Oridisa found herself sold a second time. Only not exactly sold: She was gifted to her new owner when he purchased her jewelry box, an arrangement used to evade Enamine's slave tax.

 

[Edgar Ironpelt]

Loretober 4: Music
"The Fool of Ovalmere Faire" is the tune played by over half of the music boxes crafted in the Principalities, north of the Kingdom of Vinland and the Meadborn River. It's a traditional aire, sometimes also known as "The Fool (or The King) of Bengate Bridge." And in the ancient elven tongue, it's called Ryllir Rilarlan.

 

[jaybirdthings]

Catching up now, sorry gamers!
# 1. Old Gods
Subject: Item
Canvas: Local

THE BURNING SCROLL

In the modern cast of Saints in Admas, none is considered as knowledgeable as Vitellius, called Omniscient. The Sentinel Scribe is said to be the keeper of all of the world’s secrets, including perhaps the most crucial question of all: “What happened to the Gods during the Final Hour?”. It is said that Vitellius wrote the answer to the question on a scroll and had their most devout followers hold and guard it. Members of this Eternal Society swore never to read the information, should an enemy of their saint try to extract the secret from them for nefarious purposes.

Shortly after bestowing the scroll upon the Eternal Society, the scroll caught fire, its flames burning so bright no mortal eye can perceive the secrets written within the flames. Though the scroll has burned for centuries, it remains intact, and the Eternal Society of the Burning Scroll still watches over their flaming ward to this day.

 

[jaybirdthings]

# 2. Nightlife

Subject: Place
Canvas: Regional

THE WILTED ROSE

Citizens, beware! We have received numerous reports of the traveling band of renegades known as the Wilted Rose seen foraging and coercing locals to join cultish feasts in the Bleak Hills. The group is known to get in with local groups, selling themselves as a traveling fine-dining restaurant that offers free meals to those in need. This is a false ploy the group uses to indoctrinate unsuspecting Admasians into a rebellious brainwashing ritual. The Empress’s own Black Martyrs have been summoned to the area to find these rebellious poisoners and bring them to justice.

For the safety of you and your family, here are a few behaviors known to be signs of a member of the Wilted Rose. Please take heed of these patterns and report them to your local watch.

• Gatherings with lights and music in the woods of the Bleak Hills.
• Individuals offering “free and delicious” meals to strangers.
• Smells of aromatic cooking out in the Hills.
• Any negative remarks in reference to Our High Rose or her Empire of Admas.

Again, we warn you against partaking in any of these gatherings, which are now and forever considered treason against the Empire of Admas. Stay safe and let the Sovereign be your comfort.

 

[jaybirdthings]

# 3. Prophecy

Subject: Person
Canvas: Dimensional

HELL’S END

The plane of uttermost pain, known by names such as the Fields of Suffering, the Land of Lies, the Hurting, and of course, Hell, is one of the newest recorded manifolds in the history of the planes. Despite its youth in comparison to its sister worlds, Hell is fated to be the most short-lived of all. The volatile and violent resistance that Suffering’s powerful inhabitants enact upon their own world in addition to the apocalyptic nature of its creation have brought many Seers in the planes to search for the one who will be Hell’s End. The search has not yet been fruitful, though many agree that the fated individual must be one born of the Hurting itself.

Many look to the Mundane world and its many denizens descended from Hell, including the rare Tieflings and their more abundant cousins, the Hobgoblins. Even the Archmage Praesidio cannot see the face of Hell’s End, though she strongly suspects that the figure currently lives, and that they are locked away within the Valley of Death.

 

[jaybirdthings]

# 4. Music

Subject: Place
Canvas: Local

THE SYMPHONY CAVES

Nestled in the craggy passes between Niama and Grimstad, there is rumored to be a cave structure that holds a supernatural quality. The caves amplify and beautify any songs that are performed within them, making the music within reach across worlds and call out to nearby listeners upon the Sea of Stars. Though no one knows from where this rumor originated, musicians with planar knowledge travel to the caves to prove themselves as artists, awaiting an audience from another world. Others who only know Verra and their home plane bring audiences of locals to the caves, simply enjoying the brilliant acoustics and reveling in the curious folktales of the Symphony Caves.

 

[Edgar Ironpelt]

Loretober 5: Psionics
For all the years that he had lived in Ylide, Master Seztrim was not a native of the city, or even of the world. Like nearly all lizardmen, he hailed from the otherworld of Colony Adobe. And like most of the lizardmen seen in the world, he possessed mental powers that he insisted were not magical abilities, but rather something else.

He could, of course, use simple mindspeech, either with others who possessed the gift, or with mages who had cast the appropriate day spell. He could also read auras, and was usually able to discern the future of those he read, up to a limit of half a dozen years or so. His deeper and darker "psi" abilities he used sparingly, and with great discretion.

His one gift over matter, or "psychokinetic" ability, was to expand metal and then to cause the expanded metal to revert to its original size. This ability he used freely and openly, finding it helpful in his profession as a slave dealer.

 

[jaybirdthings]

# 5. Psionics

Subject: Place
Canvas: Global

THE HEART OF THE HOLLOW

All aberrant creatures are, to some extent, children of the earth. Their creator, Nascence, was the child of Verra god of nature, the worldmother. Nascence witnessed the Stare of Korrin, and terrifying creatures began pouring out of their eyes. To prevent these creatures from spilling over into the world the Prime Gods were creating, Verra gave herself up to become the world, encasing her child within the land she became. Thus the Mundane World became a prison for the Hollow, often called the World below or the Underdark.

Since the All-Seeing Stare was the onus for their creation, many of Nascence’s creatures which now fill the Hollow have powerful innate psionic abilities. This energy is felt throughout the Hollow, though it is said that Nascence’s heart still beats somewhere within the World Below, and that it has near infinite psionic potential. Some of the aberrant creatures seek out the Hollow Heart, hoping to use its power to ascend to godhood and take over the Mundane World. Others view the Heart as a ticking bomb, and have fled to other realms to avoid what they see as an inevitable collapsing of the Hollow in upon itself.