The World of Euriga
Euriga is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game. It is set in a world where spellcasters have been reimagined to fill slightly different roles, and where numbers of human cultures replace the traditional fantasy races of D&D. It is a world inhabited by spirits, some wild, some dark, and where their interaction with humans takes a central role in the narrative of the setting. It is a land where modernity is emerging from traditions, where the new has triumphed over the old. Euriga is dawning on a new age; will you stand valiantly against the tides of time, or will you move boldly forward into dawn?
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This campaign setting takes its name from the continent of Euriga; the land from which your character originates and progresses as adventurer. Euriga is not the only continent of this world, but this setting is described and is to be experienced from the perspective of its inhabitants.
Dawn of a New Age
Euriga has recently emerged from a dark era and has begun its transition into an age of renaissance. Technological advances in agriculture and civil engineering allowed cities to grow rapidly and support large populations. The houses of Eurigeans are warm and clean, and are equipped with proper sanitary installations, safe indoors kitchens, coal-burning furnaces, and easy access to clean water. While poverty still endures in the cities and countryside, the inhabitants of Euriga are more prosperous now than they ever been. All but its poorest citizens received an elementary education, but many also completed advanced studies in the diverse universities, colleges, seminaries and academies around the continent. Off all the sciences and philosophiae that are taught, arcane magic is among the most prestigious, and its principles are applied just as extensively as those of arithmetic, geometry and chemistry in everyday life. As a matter of fact, modern spellcasting derives from these disciplines just as much as esoteric principles.
Of Spirits and Men
Euriga is a land where spirits walk among humans, halfway between the world of shadows and that of mortals. Some appear to be benevolent and some are clearly hostile, but the majority seem indifferent to the fate of humankind. No one knows what prompts them to occupy the mortal’s world, but the fate of the Euriga and that of the spirit lands appear to be somehow intertwined.
Whether they serve as allies or antagonists to the player characters, the presence of spirits cannot be ignored and is likely to take a central role in the campaign. The term “spirit” is used in a very broad sense on Euriga, and includes virtually any creature of supernatural origin – with the exception of fiends and celestials – such as elemental, fey, plant and undead creatures. Not all spirits are ghost-like and incorporeal, most are in fact quite tangible. Spirits often take a “shape” as they enter the material world, giving a solid and physical form to their nothingness. Whether this is a deliberate choice on their part or a consequence of their presence in the mortal’s world remains unknown. The spirits themselves do not seem to have (or even care for) an explanation for it.
The Promise of a Better Afterlife
As the world entered a new age of reason, the open worship of these spirits is no longer practiced by everyone, and is even discouraged by some. A new pantheon of gentler deities has replaced the old wild and often cruel gods and spirit lords. As the world moves into modernity, the people of Euriga have come to prefer the promise of a blessed afterlife earned by one’s virtues, rather than a place of choice in the realms of the dead for those who performed great deeds, be they self-sacrificing or thoroughly evil. Many spirits are resentful of this change and thought they do not feel spite and hatred the way humans do, their mysterious duties must be performed, regardless whether humans cooperate or not.
While this new religion is just as important here as it is in other campaign settings, the gods of Euriga do not grant spells to mortal clerics, nor do they empower their worshippers with the ability to channel their divinity and perform miracles on their behalf. This doesn’t prevent the inhabitants of Euriga from practicing their religion and believing in their gods’ power however – that after all, is the true definition of faith. The gods of Euriga, or so it seems, wish to be worshipped without the absolute proof of their existence.
This new religion is not completely incompatible with many of the old practices however, and as a matter of fact, most of the old holidays are still celebrated today. The spirits are still appeased and thanked with daily rituals, and the witches who communicate with spirits are still consulted and heeded by citizens and countryfolks alike. Once, these witches lived a hermit-like life in the wild where they could easily commune with spirits but nowadays, some even own fancy boutiques where they sell spells and potions to the citizens of the great cities of Euriga.
On the Appearance of Spirits
The spirits of Euriga can take various forms but in their “natural”, incorporeal states, they look like indistinct humanoid shapes of impenetrable darkness. Sometimes, their lower body resemble the body of a snake, the tail of a fish, or even the tentacles of a squid, rather than the legs of a human but regardless of their appearance, the shape of spirits always dissipate into nothingness before touching the ground. Only their glowing eyes appear on their face, as if no other trait could emerge past the blackness of their shape.
Incorporeal spirits wear a mask when manifesting in front of mortals, and many wear clothes and jewelry to give shape to their nothingness. This mask is often white with gold ornamentation or dark grey with silver motifs, but some are brightly coloured and take after the traits of an animal instead of those of a human visage. Strangely, the eyeholes of these masks change continually to match the current spirit’s expressions and emotional state. The mouth on the other hand never moves, even when the spirit is speaking.
When a spirit is killed or banished, its mask and clothes fall to the ground and vanish within a few seconds. Ancient spells allow a necromancer to preserve a defeated spirit’s mask, allowing the mortal who possesses it to summon and bind the spirit to its will.
Many spirits also “clad” themselves with a physical form when entering the mortal’s world, taking the shape of an animal, of a fantastic creature, or even of an animated lump of rock and soil, but they seem incapable of taking the shape of a human being. Whenever they do, their otherworldly origin is always betrayed by inhuman features; some are fair (like a dryad spirit), others are grotesque (like a green hag spirit), or truly repulsive (like a ghast spirit). Ancient necromancers also learned how bind lesser spirits to the corpse of the deceased and raised hordes of animated skeletons and zombies.
Spirits as Creatures
In the world of Euriga, every creature of the elemental, fey, plant, and undead type is considered a spirit, and the DM should feel free to change the appearance of the creature to match its vision of the spirits when necessary. Ghosts, shadows, specters, wraiths, and other incorporeal creatures readily serve as “unclad” spirits, as described above, while corporeal and tangible creatures can be interpreted as one of their physical incarnation (like a salamander, a treant, or a dryad), as an object possessed or animated by a spirit (like an earth elemental, a shambling mound, or a skeleton), or as one of their most ancient and noble leaders on Euriga (like a djinni or a mommy lord). Some like an azer or a green hag could be imagined as spirits that were banished or sentenced to live on this world in their forms indefinitely and that have now made their way into local folklore.
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