Nurn, After the Fall

[Felix]

Hello all. This is for everyone who cares to look at what I've come up with for my campaign world. I've not DM'd in years, but though I'd give worldbuilding a try. So, to make things smoother, I've decided to enlist YOUR help. Anything you like, dislike, love, revile or think would be cool if you tweaked it, please comment. I'm going to update this with more stuff as I think of it, so you never know! You might like what you see.

Enjoy.

 

[Felix]

Initial Thoughts

The world has no gods as it were and all civilizations are afraid of magic. They will riot and a mob will destroy any who look like they use magic. Magic is prevalent in the world, but casters are very careful about how they use magic. Forests are ruled by various tribes of monsterous humanoids, gnolls being the most common. Dwarves live under their mountains and have little contact with the outside. The evles have left with few exceptions. They do not age once they reach maturity and an aeon of living in this realm made them tired. No on eknows where they went to – although other elves might know. Halflings live inside human societies and are accepted. Orcs are scattered and disorganized – they mostly hide and fight with dwarves. They compete with them for master of mountain ranges. Gnomes are hunted for their innate spellcasting abilities, although they do have some communities in the woods. Druidic socities rule the wild land including the gnoll territories. There are no gods but primal forces are worshipped. Although they do not actually exist as sentient beings, various names for river gods, sky gods, fire gods and their worship is common throughout the world.

The world is peaceful. The calm after the storm. But a malovent force is at work. It knows the secret behind divine power and is right now putting its tendrils forth and seeking knowledge. What is the secret that has been lost? How to become a god. How to sway the lives of millions of people over generations.

This canadate for godhood keeps himself apart from the physical world. He uses agents, but like Kaizer Soze these agents don’t know who they’re working for. Some of the henchmen include Roland de Chanson, the Vampire. He is the primary facemanand collector of information. The merchant guild searches elven ruins for artifacts under the leadership of Victor Mallegrio. Assassin guilds pperate to keep any one kingdom from gaining ascendance and also from preventing the druids from interfereing in their search.

 

[Felix]

Why arn't there Gods, and why do people hate magic?

There is no living memory of what happened to create this hatred for magic; at least those who do know are few and far between and aren’t talking. About 800 years ago the world was awash in magic. It was not uncommon to see golems guarding the entrances to the dwellings of powerful casters. Gods were very active in the world and the machinations of demons and devils to enslave the mortals were ever present. It all came to a head when an alliance of the Adversary, the Dukes of Hell, and the Demon Princes were preparing to “move” the prime material plane “in between” the Abyss and Hell, cosmologically speaking. This movement would give access to the prime to any demon or devil who so desired to stroll there. This would also effectively bar entry in to the prime of any celestial being.

The prime was on the verge of becoming Evil’s playground. The divine forces of Law, Good, and Chaos (each for their own reasons) unified to stop this from happening; the only way they could do so was to give their life force to act as a magnet to the Evil beings’ life forces, draw them together, and while the divine beings were together, to destroy them. The hosts of heaven, in alliance with the clerics and goodly arcanists materialized on the prime in a singularity focused upon a monolith. Such a concentration of positive energy caused the world to “expand”. Grass grew inches visibly, light was shed in unimaginable brightness by the sun and all sources of light. This was shortlived, however, for when the concentration of positive energy reached critical mass the Evil in the planes was ripped into the prime: Demons and Devils making the final preparations to “move” the prime were sucked into the prime, completely helpless to resist. Fires wiped out streches of plains, and mountains crumbled. The clerics and arcanists involved in the project were driven mad with the power that surged through them – their pain didn’t last long since their bodies disintegrated in the energy blast that ripped the monolith apart. Lesser priests lost faith as their divine gifts of spells was lost in the cataclysm. Minor archanists, who before had enjoyed prestige within communities, now found mobs scaling their walls and breaking down their doors seeking retribution for the catastrophy and death around them. Magic was to blame for the troubles even as it saved the souls of all mortals from aeons of torment at the hands of Evil. Cities ceased to exist as riots, earthquakes, floods, fires and famine wiped them out. The civilized world disappeared.

But the prime was saved.

It was not a complete success. The celestial host had not all followed into the singularity; some were left behind to guard against future assaults upon the prime. Just as a few were left behind in heaven, the pull on the Infernal and Demonic hordes was not total. Some evil beings remained. The least powerful, just as in heaven, but they are there nonetheless.

While some outsiders survived, they were all thrown into a state of limbo. Fully aware of what was happening around the and able to observe events on the prime, they remained unable to affect it. There impotence is shown by future attempts of reclusive wizards to communicate with the extraplanars. All attempts proved futile.

The monolith was destroyed and the fragments disappeared. For the simple reason that no one had known where it was in the first place and that the world had shuffled around its lands and seas, earth and sky. Rumor holds that this monolith holds the key to divine power. Although the life forces of the gods have been pureed, the energy which made up their life force was keyed into the monolith itself.

Slowly, civilization rebuild itself. After a 500 year dark age cities began to spring up. They began as mere trading posts and crossroads on the newly settled terrain. Mankind still blamed magic for their straits, and the masses quickly fell under the sway of orators that promised to punish the magic users.
But magic continued to thrive. In small enclaves, the arcanists who survived the cataclysim came together and began studies into avoiding detection and weaving deception. These enclaves grew in power until they could not hide their presence easily (even while they could hide their location). Savvy and unfanatic leaders of people began to see the potential benefits of an alliance with the “sole source” of magic in the area. Other leaders fell under the charms of enchanters and became toadies of the enclaves. Slowly, many communities became pawns under control of different enclaves.

 

[Felix]

Development of Government Systems after the Fall

The loss of the accumulated knowledge of society was great after the Fall. Knowledge had been preserved in two places: great libraries in the big capital cities and in arcanists personal collections. The great libraries burned abid the ruin of the landscape and those that survived were destroyed by the roving mobs intent to wreck all vestiges of civilization. The powerful mages knew what destruction would occur in the cataclysm, so they hid their books and entrusted them with their apprentices; they are now only accessable to the small enclaves that remain hidden. Those enclaves that were uncovered by the mobs were destroyed wholesale; nothing survived the mob’s wrath once magic was discovered.

Societies began forming around the new river valleys and were set up for self sufficiency. Raids upon other states were common; slaver were taken back to work the land. The most resistant to these new states were the tribes who had taken residence in the new mountain ranges. Fights between these two were common , although they were mostly a series of skirmishes and not fought in wars.

Two great empires arose from the manors and city states. The Paalen League is a seafaring kingdom in the western archapelligo. Its land army is small, basically more of a police force that occupied conquered islands. Its main strength was in its ships that plied the waters of the western sea. It recently (75 years ago) made first contact with the great land empire of Subartha. Unlike the Paalen League, Subartha is incredibly rigid in their laws and the application of them. All non-citizens are slaves, and are not treated terribly well. Its army is unmatched in discipline and coordination. Using tight formations and flexible tactics a small body of these troops could annihilate any opposition. The Paalen League and Subartha haven’t quite made up their minds over what to do about the other.

The other states are autonomous city states, sometimes a small city being a vassal city to a larger one. They retain their autonomy by being defensibly and also by bribing the two empires not to attack them. These city states range from the despotic to the liberty loving. A no-mans land exists outside of the ranges of the cities’ spheres of control.
The character of Subartha is one that dislikes change. It believes that luxury is something that people cannot afford and there is very little art or music encouraged within this empire.

The Paalen League embraces the artistic endeavors; bards are common in these cities. The most famous of the bards is the patron of the Chanson School of Music. Established 500 years After the Fall (A.F.) it is famous for its symphonies, and for the caliber of student it produces. The current patron is Roland de Chanson. Powerful families often send their third male children to study under his tutelage.

Both of the governments of these empires are aware of the magical enclaves scattered about the world, if they don’t know where many of them are. A few enclaves have formed alliances, in secret of course, and aid in policy decisions and the removal of competing enclaves. Some city states are free from magical manipulation. Others are not so. In some cases, most notably the savages in the Wilderness, are ruled by magic. The druids of the Wilderness mimic nature in their vicious “maintenance of the Balance”. In this case, the druids personify the brutal side of nature. This can be seen in the abundance of gnolls, orcs, and hobgoblins in the loose knit confederation of druidic lands in the Wilderness.

Other city states stay under the thumb of magic without their knowledge. Statesmen fall under the dominion and mental control of wizards and sorcerers. This gives these enclaves a measure of protection from the mob, and the manpower to protect themselves from rival enclaves. It also provides the option of destroying other enclaves without drawing attention to the presence of magic.

 

[Felix]

Races of Nurn

Humans are by far the most common race. They control most of the city states and both the Paalen League and Subartha.

Halflings are accepted in society due to their non-magical nature, but they are distrusted for their larcenous nature.

Dwarves are rare. Most of their mountain fastnesses perished in the Fall. One notable exception exists as a well defended city state in the western mountain ranges. Its proximity to Subartha is not a cause for worry: the lawful penchant of both societies allows them to understand one another, and the dwarven defenses are too tough for Subartha to penetrate. The Subarthans are too numerous for the dwarves to conquer.

Elves before the Fall were well known to be wizards. As such they are arrested on sight and usually killed. They are common in the magic enclaves although they can no longer claim a homeland. Their prominence in crafting the monolith and assistance in facilitating the cataclysm are fairly well known.

Gnomes are also arrested on sight. Fortunately for them, they are hard to find. Common in the enclaves, they do have two city states of their own, but they keep the location very quiet.

Halfelves are pities by some, but generally confused as Elves when it comes to lynch mobs. They are generally found in enclaves while some have been successful in concealing their Elven heritage and dwell in the human lands.

Halforcs are most common in the wilderness where they are well accepted (the society is made up of mostly monsterous humanoids anyway). They also live in the communities surrounding the Wilderness and are treated with equinamity. The further from the Wilderness, the more pitied, hated, or ignored they are.

Gnolls compromise the border watch of the Wilderness. One fact known is that expeditions penetrating too far into the Wilderness don’t return, nor are their bodies found by any who would search: Gnolls are scavengers. They are feared for their ferocity, but are relatively unknown outside the Wild.

Goblins are stepped on wherever they go. They are most often a part of the slave labor in city states, and attend to petty tasks in the Wilderness. They do however make good, if untrustworthy, scouts and spies. This is due to the invisiblility their social status provides them.

Hobgoblins are the police force of the Wilderness. They enforce the will of the druidic councils upon the tribal populations.

Drow civilization suffered greatly in the Fall. Not only did most of the Underdark collapse, but their goddess Lloth and her cohorts were destroyed in the cataclysm. There is little contact with the surface as they are mostly concerned with the reconstruction of their cities. The male wizards now have a firm ascendancy over society as the women clerics lost all of their power. On the surface they are considered no different than Elves and killed most often due to their lack of familiarity of the magic phobia on the surface: they are too quick to resort to magic.

 

[Felix]

The Truth about the Monolith

During the Fall, a great rent was made in the earth and the Monolith, the focus of divine power was swallowed. It cracked into pieces although the magic confining the divine power remained intact. The portals to the other worlds swallowed some of the pieces, and some fragments reside on other planes. Those remaining on the Prime are buried under the Wide Sea and under tons of earth and stone. Only a few of the arcanists involved in the creation of the monolith left records of where it was made; clues to the location are scattered about in books of lore among different enclaves. Some of those clues were destroyed in the mob attacks. Other clues are not recognized as such. Any one in possession of a fragment has access to the divine energies latent in them. They give the bearer certain powers, but ascendancy to godhood my only be achieved when the soul of the dead possessor is fused with divine energy. The possessor would become a god, although he might not retain all memory of what happened; his personality would change a bit to reflect the particular divine energy his soul fused with – towards Good or Evil. Some enclaves have been theorizing about the process necessary for such a transition since the Fall.

 

[Felix]

Government in the Paalen League

The Government of the League is comprised of the most powerful traders from each city state. The seat of government was placed on a lonely small island for two reasons: that it might be easily defended and 2 that if the government became too uppity and used its powers to the disliking of the merchants, the merchant captains could easily place a blockade and strangle the government. The merchants do no want to have to bother with the nuts and bolts of government. Each city state has a governor appointed by a vote of all citizenry. Citizens are land owners who can demonstrate their education: no illiterates voting here. These governors then appoint one representative to the Council of Orders, the overall governing body. These Councilmen decide policy over issues such as foreign policy, taxes of the colony cities and declarations of war. These councilmen must have been a governor in at least two different cities; the well traveled merchants are the usual people to sit on the Council of Orders. Governers serve periods of three years. They may be elected as many times as they can. Councilmen sit for terms of eight years. They are usually not reappointed, but it has happened.

The military of the League isn’t centralized; individual ship captains (and not necessarily the ship’s owner) are granted Letters of Marque to carry the fight to the enemy. Recently the biggest fight has been against the Pirates of the Fir Islands. This action has been mostly defensive in posture, since the league cannot actually order the captains to fight. The council can, however, grant land and titles to anyone with a Letter; they retain the right to make anyone a land owner, and thereby possibly qualify for citizenship.

The Judiciary is made up of several tiers of tribunals (the number of which depend on the size of the city). The Governor appoints a judge every 4th year he serves; so he must be elected twice to appoint one judge. The judges hear the evidence as presented by the Watchmen and decide the guilt or innocence, and what the appropriate punishment should be. Generally citizens are held to a higher standard that non-citizens, and their punishments can be much more severe, to include capital punishment. Capital punishment is not something a non-citizen can be condemned to; they can be sent to live in the colonies, however.

Assemblies consisting of all citizens vote on legislature. The governor may veto any legislation he chooses. Citizens who neglect their responsibility to vote are first publicly reprimanded, and on the second offense their citizenship is revoked for good. The only people exempt from this law is to carry a Captain’s or Apprentice’s License.

Basically, the government of the league does very little. They assist in the coordination of resources, they provide a diplomatic corps to go to foreign states, and sometimes arbitrate disruptive conflicts between two rival merchants. The last function of the Council is to call for an assembly of Judges. A citizen accused of Treason is brought before the Judges and the evidence is provided. The defendant is allowed to speak in his own defense. The Judges vote and a 3/5th majority is needed to convict. The convicted citizen is summarily executed in public. His assets are sold to the highest bidder, and the Council keeps the funds.

 

[Felix]

The Structure of Enclaves

Enclaves are all built with one word in mind: secrecy. How this is accomplished varies from enclave to enclave. Most, if not all, enclaves retain several illusionists to maintain the first level of defense around the entrance. While the enclaves were first being built they delved underground. Indeed, many enclaves are carved in to the sides of mountains. As they grew, the ability of enclaves to house themselves completely underground diminished, and they began the construction of their surface buildings. The second line of defense is enchantment magic, and individuals or small groups captured or those that stumble upon enclaves often have their memory erased, and are released. Not wanting to draw too much attention to themselves or their location, the enchanters implant memories of simple farming villages. The arrival of large forces aware of the enclave is met with force; the enclave brings to bear all of its magical might and simultaneously begins the evacuation of the enclave; their discovery means that they are no longer safe. They either scatter, or sue a known enclave for protection.

The biggest logistical problem faced by enclaves is the provision of food. Caves are infertile and wizards have more important things to do than plant crops. In many cases, goblins are used as slave labor to tend fairly large farming plantations. These plantations are innocuous, as they exist all over the world.

Leadership of enclaves is different for every one. In the most powerful enclaves a master of each school of magic has a place on the ruling council. In others, the most charismatic or most learned mage rules with the consent of the other mages. Power struggles are not uncommon; short lived human mages have a shorter time horizon while elves and gnomes are much more oriented to the long term. Incidentally, this helps explain the dearth of human mages; in a closed off society, few human apprentices are found and human mages “quickly” die of old age.

<<Wizards, Clerics, Sorcerers have disguise as a class skill.>>

 

[Felix]

The Langolans

In the mountains north of the Wide Sea and east of the Wilderness live a society of mountain folk. Upon a time they were the survivors of the destruction of Lochnarch, a now ruined metropolis. They became simple hill people, nomads, hunting for their sustenance and happy to be separated from the civilized world. After the Fall, they found themselves completely cut off from the other human lands. A sea had sprung up between Langol and the southern city states, and their only contact was the savage folk of the Wilderness. Eager to resist druidic dominance, the Langolans reverted to a barbaric state of evolution. A ruthless people now, even the Wilderness Border Guard is content to merely keep tabs on their movement and avoid any direct conflict with them.

Hill folk and hunters they became after the Fall, savage barbarians they are now. They are singular in that they have retained their tolerance of magic. Their God of the Mountain, Thuul, is central to their lives. His priests demand strength from his followers, acumen in war and the destruction of invaders. <<While not really a god, Thuul’s priests worship the earth, and like a druid, it provides them with divine power. In game terms, the priests are experts, adepts, or rangers.>>

As it so happens, an enclave exists not far from the Langolan tribes. The head illusionist has the job of appearing to Thullyari (priests of Thuul) in their dreams. In this way, the enclave has managed a bit of control over Langolan movement and disposition towards those who would threaten the enclave.

<<All Langolans gain the Feral template from Savage Species. Their favored class is Barbarian, and all Langolans have climb, jump and balance as class skills. Their ECL is +1.>>

Barak, a Langolan War Party Leader
STR: 24 DEX: 15 CON: 16 INT: 8 WIS: 14 CHA: 14
Barbarian 8, ECL 9 BAB: 8/3 HP: 8d12+24
44 Skill points (Intimidate, Balance, Climb, Jump)

Feats/Abilities: Iron Will, Weapon Focus (claw), Multigrab, Greater Multigrab, Improved Grab, Pounce, Rake, Darkvision 90’, Rage 3/day, Uncanny Dodge (Dex, Flanking), Fast Heal 4

Du’lal, a Langolan Shaman
STR: 20 DEX: 14 CON: 12 INT: 11 WIS: 16 CHA: 10
Ranger 5, ECL 6 BAB: 5 HP: 5d12+5
32 Skill points (Survival, Mv Sil, Hide, Listen, Know: Rel)

 

[Felix]

Double Post