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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Arkhandus" data-source="post: 5529712" data-attributes="member: 13966">Oh, something important I forgot last night when typing that up.  The primary reason that magical classes/items will be rare during play is that the wars on the main continent have been as much religious conflicts as territorial ones, and magic-wielders of all sorts were heavily employed by the militaries of the warring countries.  So in the first few decades following the end of those wars, the people have come to resent mages, priests, zealots, and warmongers.Wizardly libraries, bardic colleges, temples, shrines, and similar edifices have largely been destroyed or vandalized, leaving little for any new generations of mages or priests to learn from.  While military academies and similar places have also been destroyed and fallen into disfavor, it's a lot easier for the remaining warriors of each country to train others directly, and less of the public resentment has been directed towards the average soldier or militiaman.  Although a few decades have passed and the magical arts have slowly regained a small measure of respectability, there are still very few mages and priests remaining on the main continent to share their lore.  Many magic items from the time of the wars have also been destroyed or buried, so there aren't many of them left to go around.The World:The world is known primarily as Mhavareth, to those on the main continent, itself called Rhivia by many of the inhabitants.  Mhavareth is an Earthlike world with a yellow sun called Hevelior (or simply "the sun"; common myths of Rhivia say that Hevelior devoured the old sun, Rhisol), and a grayish moon called Lunelle (or just "the moon").  A year on Mhavareth is 280 days long, divided into 10 months of 28 days each on the Common Calender of Rhivia; each day is 24 hours long and each week is 7 days, as on Earth.  The year starts with the first full moon of spring, as Lunell completes a lunar cycle every 28 days, signalling the start of a new month.  The common names for the months, from first to last, are simply Spring's Start, Spring's End, Summer's Start, Midsummer, Summer's End, Autumn's Start, Autumn's End, Winter's Start, Midwinter, and Winter's End.  Weekdays are simply referred to by number; Firstday, Seconday, Thirday, Fourthday, Fifthday, Sixthday, and Seventhday.The distant continent the party will be exploring/searching is known as Azagan and very little is known about it.  But I will provide a few details about it to anyone who plays a native of that continent.The Common tongue, also called Planar Common, is widely used across Mhavareth as a trade language, brought to this world by extraplanar merchants ages ago.  The Great Beyond cosmology outlined in the Advanced Player's Guide (and the PRD, under Planar Adventures) will be used in this campaign.  Racial tongues are used among many nonhumans, and Druidic persists among the druidic remnants across Rhivia.  Other languages used on Rhivia include:Rhivian (the language of an old empire that once dominated much of the continent, commonly spoken in the center of the continent),Toran (spoken by people across the Crimson Tors in southern Rhivia),Zanji (spoken by the Zanjin people of eastern Rhivia),Vanderglotten (used in Vanderheim and among related tribes),Loricaean (used across the Loricaean Isles and western coasts),Esarro (on the Esarroccan Peninsula of the southwest),Baratti (spoken in northwestern Rhivia and across northern islands),and Dejarim (dominant in the southern deserts and savannahs of Rhivia).These regional languages may be selected as bonus languages for high Intelligence by any character, and humans (including half-elves and half-orcs) learn one regional language for free (in addition to Common).  Non-humans may substitute one regional language for one of their race's automatic languages.Some details on the main continent (Rhivia) will be added later.Lands of Rhivia:More to be added soonCenebrelhuin: A wood elf country spanning the Greater Fogwood forest of northeastern Rhivia, bordering some of the former Zanjinhon territories to the east and Vanderheim territories to the west, while bugbears, orcs, and trolls menace their southern border in the Lesser Fogwood.  The Greater Fogwood is a massive thicket of brush, pines, oaks, and yews, so it's a great source of bowmaking and carpentry material, but also quite chilly for most of the year.  The Cenebrelhuin Principality is a reclusive society of loosely-allied wood elven clans, living up among the trees and generally distrustful of outsiders, though more welcoming to elven visitors.While their lifestyle is somewhat primitive, living in small communities lead by the elders of each family with one noble family at the head of each community (the noble families are simply those with a trace of divine heritage in their ancestry), Cenebrelhuin elves are fairly civil with one another and with any guests.  They trade food, furs, and occasionally lumber or crafts for metal goods, primarily trading with other elves but occasionally gnomes, halflings, or other nature-respecting races.  A few Cenebrelhuin clans make their homes near the forest's edge and have slightly greater contact with humans, but the general attitude of Cenebrelhuin is somewhat hostile to nonelven trespassers.  Cenebrelhuin elves venerate Alvaryn to some extent, but also worship Mhavara and a variety of minor elven deities.  Some near the border with Zanjin territories revere Morigami and practice a loose form of Zantaoism.  Some in the western edges of the Greater Fogwood have taken up worship of Cayden Cailean, Erastil, Shelyn, Gozreh, Nethys, and Gorum from the Golarion pantheon.Rhivia: This ancient empire has fallen apart and all that remains of it now are ruins and cultural elements that remain among many of its former territories, including the Rhivian religion and the Common Calendar.  The empire once covered much of the main continent, itself now called Rhivia.  The former capitol is Rhivalius, now a haunted ruin at the center of the continent.Vanderheim: This sprawling expanse of scrubland, marshes, forests, and highland moors is located in north-central Rhivia and borders various other countries.  Vanderheim is inhabited by human clans, known collectively as the Vanderheimers, who have no real unity or formal government.  Each clan wars with others in the region and occasionally allies with a few other clans to invade other countries for pillaging and expanding their territory.  They live primitively in general, but have great skill at metalworking, smithing, and smelting, so their arms and armor are quite well-made.  Vanderheim clans live in wooden longhouses or peat- and sod-built huts, with stone buildings for smithies and small castles.  They trade occasionally with other clans or other countries, but mostly just raid and pillage whatever they need.Their homeland makes for poor farming and hunting grounds, so they inevitably go a-viking downriver into other lands for pillaging.  This, of course, makes Vanderheim rather unpopular with other countries and occasionally results in massive losses for one or both sides when the clans go a-viking.  Vanderheimers are capable seafarers with their longboats, and sometimes make long voyages downriver into the eastern or western oceans to explore and plunder new realms where nobody expects such an invasion.  They do, however, get along well with dwarves in the hills.  The leaders in Vanderheim clans are simply the best warriors, titled Jarls if they control a large territory or Laird if they control only a single town or village.  Vanderheimers are tall, often burly, free-speaking humans of fair skin, blue eyes, and blond or red hair, occasionally black or brown hair from intermarriage with foreigners.  The men are often quite hairy and often sport thick beards, and wear their hair somewhat long (shoulder-length hair is common, while women often sport even-longer hair; both men and women have a tendency to braid their hair to some degree).The Vanderheim territory includes much of the coast along the inland Bitterfrost Sea, at the northwestern corner of Vanderheim.  A few clans near the southern edges of Vanderheim, amidst rivers and forests, have built small cities or taken over cities left behind by the Rhivian Empire of old.  These cities are ruled by Grafs, if peaceful (though even those cities have at least a defensive militia, lead by a Herzog), or a Kaiser in the case of the military city-state Archenburg.  People of Vanderheim or those who've migrated elsewhere from that land speak the Vanderglotten tongue, and typically venerate the Rhivian pantheon of deities, though a few practice other religions depending on where they live, such as the Rocha clans of southeastern Vanderheim who practice Esarroccan Dualism, while a few of the northernmost tribes, calling themselves Weissdrachenvolkers, worship white dragons and draconic deities.  There's also a substantial number of Vanderheim clans that have been converted over the last few centuries to worship of the Golarion deities, mostly in the central and northern reaches of the country.Zanjinhon: The oldest of the eastern countries upon the continent of Rhivia, Zanjinhon is now but a shadow of its former glory, a small and fractured empire clinging to the last vestiges of greatness.  Now surrounded by small feudal domains that once belonged to the Zanjnhon Empire, it is a war-torn coastal country that survives only on meager agriculture and a brisk sea trade with distant lands.  Zanjinhon has a strong warrior tradition and strong naval tradition, but recent wars have dwindled its army down to a few hundred warriors, most of them peasant ashigaru, lead by a few dozen remaining noble samurai.  The Zanjinhon navy is nothing more than half a dozen small warships now, and a dozen or so merchant vessels.  The capitol city of Zanjinhon is Zantenkin Toshi, a heavily-fortified but beautiful city decorated with gold, in the eastern foothills of the Yama-no-Tenshi mountain range.The ruler of Zanjinhon is the elderly Emperor Kaizan Hohiro, who has only one surviving heir, Kaizan Shugino, his youngest son.  Shugino's older brothers and sistsrs perished in the last two wars of the region, the Kubarakonji prefecture's war of secession and the Arenogami Akujin war, in which cultists and their allies among the daimyos of what used to be southern Zanjinhon waged war on the Imperial family and their samurai, aided by conjured oni and other agents of Arenogami, in a bid to topple the empire and bring about a new age of "freedom and equality" to the region (but really just anarchy and free reign for oni to rampage in that corner of the Material Plane).  The last major conflict before those was just the latest Vanderheim invasion, 20 years ago, which ended poorly for both sides.Below the Imperial family are the few samurai families that still serve them, diminished in numbers by the many wars of recent centuries.  There are also the kannushi and budoka, or priests and monks, who are considered to be of roughly equal status to the samurai but without any military or political ranks and privelages.  Below them are the peasant ashigaru, families of militiamen with less wealth and less training than samurai but still quite formidable and respectable, serving under samurai commanders.  Then there are the rest of the peasants, the heimin who work for a living.  Honor, face, and the code of bushido are important in Zanjinhon.  People of Zanjinhon and its former territories are known as Zanjin, and they speak the Zanji language.  They are olive-skinned with dark hair and eyes, with a notable slant to their eyes that seems almost elven.Zanjin peoples generally worship the Kami of the Zantao religion, but wars of the last few decades have lead many to lose some faith in the Kami.  It is an animist religion and philosophy, quite different in its teachings, practices, and beliefs than the Rhivian religion (foreign deities are considered nothing more than rogue Kami to believers of Zantao).  Most territory in the Zanjinhon region is mountainous or hilly terrain, though fertile from frequent coastal rainstorms.  The lowlands are marshy floodplains, and forests dot the hill-country.  A desert stretches across the southern plateau at the edge of Zanjin territory, where barbarians and outlaws dwell.Organizations:Only a few small temples and academies remain to provide formal religious or arcane training, scattered in remote places.  And only a few other small organizations or academies remain to train warriors or assassins.  These remaining organizations are as follows:To be added soon</blockquote>

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