The Beginning: Broad Strokes
Geography: Antarctica. Using composite topographic maps of Antarctica – both with and without ice sheets and at varying sea levels – I will create the continent on which the campaign is set. Even though it is probably more trouble than it is worth, I am going to maintain the polar location – figuring out how to do directions should be interesting. However, the entire continent is not artic. The outer, coastal band – where most civilization is found – is cool and temperate with relatively normal seasonal changes. As one travels pole-ward, however, it gets colder and more forbidding and the usual long periods of winter darkness are found. The pole area itself is an eternally frigid and cold mountain range where dragons dwell (see below).
History: Up until a few thousand years ago, the continent was home to wild beasts, dragons and orcs and giants only. Then, catastrophe on the rest of the world led to a mass migration – over a period of a century or so – of peoples and races of many different lands to the continent. In time, these migrants formed new civilizations along the coast. They interacted with one another the way all civilizations do: through trade, cultural exchange and war. Despite regular raids by savage races and monsters from deeper within the continent, most of these new civilizations flourished. After a time – one thousand years or so – one city state came to dominate the rest. It was a magocracy, ruled by powerful wizards who used their mastery of the arcane to build a powerful and decadent civilization. This city state dominated the continent for a thousand years, growing ever more powerful, decadent and ambitious. At first, it sought to control only the coastal belt, but in time began to push inward. It was this that was their undoing. The wizard-kings made one too many forays into the depth of the continent and sparked the ire of the great dragons that dwelled there. The dragons and their minions warred with the wizard kings, their armies and their demon servants. The war lasted generations. Eventually, much of the great arcane empire lay in ruins. Perceiving no more threat from the mortal races, the dragons retreated pole-ward once again.
Civilization: The draconic war ended centuries ago. Even so, the mortal races never fully recovered. When the wizard-kings were destroyed, the empire shattered and remains so to this day. There are no real nations on the continent. Rather, city-states are the most powerful political and military forces, with wide expanses of wilderness between them. Most trade is done via coastal sailing vessels, but the seas all around the continent are notoriously dangerous – due to both weather and the sea dragons that dwell beneath the surf. Huge, claustrophobic metropolises are surrounded by small farming hamlets and the estates of the wealthy and powerful, but only as far out as the local military can keep the wilderness at bay. Beyond that, there are few settlements – mostly outposts for mining, lumbering or an attempt to clear land for farming. Each city-state has its own unique flavor, language and possibly even dominant race. The long rule of the wizard-kings, however, provided some standards that live on, however: a trade tongue (“common”), weights and measures, and mutually agreeable coinage.
Magic: Magic might as well be the magnetic field – it is everywhere and is always working, even if it is hard to notice on a day to day basis. It feeds into everything. The setting also has a llong history with arcane magic – both the inherent magic of the land (and its dragon masters) and the academic magic of the wizard-kings. Even though I am going for a sword and sorcery vibe – one where blades can be as valuable as spells – magic will still play an important role in the setting, and so will magic using PCs. Magic may get something of a makeover – I am going to look into alternate magic systems such as those presented in Magic of the Incarnum and Tome of Magic. In addition, magic items are going to get a major overhaul. I will probably apre the system from Earthdawn regarding powerful items – their power is directly linked to that of their user and the connections the user has made to the item, rather than being static and “throw-away”. This isn't to say that there won't be one shot items like potions and scrolls, but I do not want every fighter running around with a +1 sword or every character wearing a Cloak of Resistance just because they are cheap and useful.
Religion: The many different peoples that migrated to the continent brought with them innumerable faiths. Every flavor of worship can be found among the city states of the continent. The gods themselves, however, are not present in the world (though there are powerful extra-planar beings such as demons and elemental lords that set themselves up as gods). Religion is the artifice of mortal minds and while divine magic exists, and priests and clerics believe it to be bestowed upon them by the gods, the truth of the matter is uncertain.
Dungeons: Ruins of the age of the wizard-kings litter the landscape, both in the coastal belt and deeper pole-ward. In addition, closer to the poles the orcs, ogres and giants that are native to the land have their own ancient sites and ruins. Moreover, the dragons that are the true masters of the land, if not often seen ones, have many lairs and other secret places in the polar region. As always, there are caverns and caves and underground landscapes to explore.
Dragons: Dragons are the most powerful force on the continet. They are native to the land and have ruled it since before the mortal races were born. For eons, Dragons hunted freely of the other monsters of the land and fought wars for territory, mates and riches. When the orcs, ogres and giants came to the continent millenia ago, the dragons watched them with curiosity for centuries before deciding to lord over them. It was the same with the other races, particularly the humans, during the great migration. Assuming humans would be as thoughtless and bestial as their other subject was the dragons' greatest error. Before the dragons had decided to intervene in human affairs, the wizard-kings had already risen to power. Over the next centuries, a cold war of sorts existed between the dragons and the arcane empire. As the wizard-kings grew in power and sought to expand their influence pole-ward, the dragons' patience was spent. Over the course of only a few decades, the dragons and their thralls destroyed the arcane empire and then retreated back to the cold darkness near the pole. Dragons are immensely ancient and powerful and their minds are almost to alien for mortals to grasp fully. While they vary in Alignment and have their own agendas, most mortals view dragons much in the same way they do volcanoes, hurricanes or tsunamis – unstoppable forces of nature to be feared and fled. If the dragons have one collective weakness it is their dismissal of mortal races as inconsequential: they believe humans and their kin will never again rise to the power and audacity of the wizard-kings.
Characters: Player characters in this setting can be anything from stalwart heroes trying to reforge civilization and tame the wilderness between the city states, to mercenaries interested only in where their next gold piece is coming from, to rugged explorers delving deep into the ruins of the past and the heart of the continent in search of secrets and glory.
Rules: I am going to try and keep house rules to a minimum. First and fortemost, though, will be a list of acceptable classes and races. This setting is intended to be more Howard and Moorcock than Tolkien and Jordan. Certain classes will be removed entirely, while others may be altered to fit. In addition, some classes from various WotC sources – the Scout and the Beguiler leap to mind immediately, and there are others – will be allowed. On the subject of races, I am unsure. Part of me wants to greatly restrict access to non-human races, but doing so may lessen the appeal of the setting for some players. As with classes, there may be races from non-Core WotC supplements that fit the setting. I think I am going to disallow psionics out of hand – not because I don't like psionics, but I think they change the tone and flavor of a campaign. I will likely employ a number of minor optional rules from sources like the PHB II and DMG II and others, as I more fully develop the setting and find elements that can and should be supported by specific rules.
