Oh, I do have some ideas about some art work I have seen.
Such as...
Such as...
The 7 wonders of the (homebrew) world
- Thread starter alsih2o
- Start date
GlassJaw
Hero
Actually, something I've been doing lately that I've found to be very helpful is doing searches on Google Image Search. I've searched for things like "tibet", "tibet villages", "wastelands", etc. and have come up with some pretty cool stuff. I actually plan to take a bunch of pics and make a thumbnail page on my campaign website for the players to look at. I might add some captions and name them actual places in the campaign world.
On a related note, can anyone recommend any books or websites about real exotic places or natural formations?
Desdichado
Hero
I find great inspiration just poking around the Webshots galleries at www.webshots.com and especially the Travel section.
Tonguez
A suffusion of yellow
The City of Nau Modu - the city is built out on the reef and constructed from gigantic blocks of living coral said to have been constructed by two brothers to guard the entrance to the Underworld. It is now ruined and haunted.
The Brass Guardian - Atop the city of Karin is a brass statue of a Knight upon a horse with his lance leveled and ready to defend against any invader. The Lance when activated shoots out gouts of alchemist fire
The Brass Guardian - Atop the city of Karin is a brass statue of a Knight upon a horse with his lance leveled and ready to defend against any invader. The Lance when activated shoots out gouts of alchemist fire
Ferret
Explorer
I'm still in the process of making mine so I can't give in depth detail but they will include the vast ruins of an ancient race inclusing a kind of rosetta stone with a history of the race, and I'm hgaving thoughts on the main city being a huge metropolis, but the only real one for miles, that could be classed as a wonder.
Mystery Man
First Post
I'm kind of sort of toying with the prospect of an Epic setting.
One of the mysteries of the planet is a ring of 36 man-made raised islands, 500 meters in diameter and 200 feet high about 200 meters apart in a perfect ring . On each of these islands in an obelisk rising 1000 feet in the air and roughly 1000 feet square at the base, narrowing to 100 ft. square at the top. Attaching all of these obelisks together via a post and lintel design is a ring of adamantine as wide as the top of the obelisk. These islands are positioned just so that when the sun, moons and planets fix on a certain point in the solar system at time once every 500 years it will shine directly down the center of the ring illuminatiing the runes that are engraved on each obelisk (normally invisible) shine a luminescent white for 36 seconds. It is said that the entire knowledge of the multiverse is inscribed in these runes and any question can be answered if looked for properly. Entire libraries taking up whole cities are dedicated to researching the proper place and time to be when the runes appear. No being knows how long or who put this structure together but the oldest tomes in the oldest libraries can be dated back several millenia. This structure can be seen from orbit.
One of the mysteries of the planet is a ring of 36 man-made raised islands, 500 meters in diameter and 200 feet high about 200 meters apart in a perfect ring . On each of these islands in an obelisk rising 1000 feet in the air and roughly 1000 feet square at the base, narrowing to 100 ft. square at the top. Attaching all of these obelisks together via a post and lintel design is a ring of adamantine as wide as the top of the obelisk. These islands are positioned just so that when the sun, moons and planets fix on a certain point in the solar system at time once every 500 years it will shine directly down the center of the ring illuminatiing the runes that are engraved on each obelisk (normally invisible) shine a luminescent white for 36 seconds. It is said that the entire knowledge of the multiverse is inscribed in these runes and any question can be answered if looked for properly. Entire libraries taking up whole cities are dedicated to researching the proper place and time to be when the runes appear. No being knows how long or who put this structure together but the oldest tomes in the oldest libraries can be dated back several millenia. This structure can be seen from orbit.
The Gates of Dhar - a pair of huge dwarven-built stone doors (500ft high, 50ft wide and 30 feet deep) which separate the Ara Desert from the Green Lands.
The Hall of the Ancients - the ancestral Thing (assembly) of the mountain dwarves.
The Bridge of Forh - an elven-built bridge, constructed of crystal with an arch of 60ft and a span of 100ft, which joins the islands of Laredo and Aramir ('The Island of Princes' and 'The Island of Prelates' - the dual seats of elven power).
The Castles of the Line (aka Greendale's Folly) - a dozen fortresses built to defend the kingdom of Mallenia from its Gethren neighbours. The castles fell soon after their completion to the Gethrens, who used to castles as bases from which to launch sorties into the surrounding countryside.
The Queen's Wall - a 75 mile wall which separates the Perthian Empire from the kingdom of Norland (which built the wall). Before the wall (on the Perthian side) is the Field of Bones where rest the remains of a hundred armies who, over the course of five centuries, attempted to breach the wall.
The City of Getty - built on an island in the middle of a river which ran dry millennia ago.
Shelzar, Jewel of the West - not mine but scavanged from the Scarred Lands.
The Hall of the Ancients - the ancestral Thing (assembly) of the mountain dwarves.
The Bridge of Forh - an elven-built bridge, constructed of crystal with an arch of 60ft and a span of 100ft, which joins the islands of Laredo and Aramir ('The Island of Princes' and 'The Island of Prelates' - the dual seats of elven power).
The Castles of the Line (aka Greendale's Folly) - a dozen fortresses built to defend the kingdom of Mallenia from its Gethren neighbours. The castles fell soon after their completion to the Gethrens, who used to castles as bases from which to launch sorties into the surrounding countryside.
The Queen's Wall - a 75 mile wall which separates the Perthian Empire from the kingdom of Norland (which built the wall). Before the wall (on the Perthian side) is the Field of Bones where rest the remains of a hundred armies who, over the course of five centuries, attempted to breach the wall.
The City of Getty - built on an island in the middle of a river which ran dry millennia ago.
Shelzar, Jewel of the West - not mine but scavanged from the Scarred Lands.
azmodean
First Post
Just starting my campaign, so I only have a single wonder so far, which is a mountain-range sized wall which isolates a peninsula (approximately the size of asia minor)from the rest of the continent. It is the most visible part of a series of wards, magical and otherwise which isolate the peninsula from the rest of the world. The kingdom which created it is long gone, leaving it to defend the ruins of their cities. Not too much in the way of history and/or descriptiveness, since the PCs aren't high level enough to meaningfully interact with it yet.
Imret
First Post
Since most of the work is still ongoing for my own world, there are just a few I've got done...mostly from when I sat down to answer a pressing question: "So...why psionics? Especially since I prefer 'psionics are different'."
1) The Fallen Sentinel of the Holy City
While historical texts and legends are divided over precisely where the Holy City once lay (save that it was clearly somewhere in the Wasted North), who it was holy to, and what purpose the Sentinel served, it is clearly there. An emerald statue of truly immense proportions, only the top of the Sentinel's hill-sized head and a single massive fist protrude from the blackened soil, resisting any attempts to be divined or carved, despite the clear tool marks from its creation.
2) Deathchoir Forest
Neither a wonder (being a natural formation) nor a forest, this hundred square miles of inhospitable beauty still warrants mention. Forming a natural barrier between the warring tribes of Hlaidet Isle, labyrinthine passages, caves, and semi-underground rivers cut their way through limestone pillars, on average thirty feet high, eroded to razor sharpness by the countless typhoons that rip across the island. There is not enough level ground in the entire area for a gnome to put one foot flat on the ground, and a single mis-step could skin a limb or sever an artery. Though the monstrous crocodiles of the caves are primarily sluggish, the belligerent and man-sized eels pose a great danger to tribal raiding boats plying the rivers. While eerie, the keening wail caused by wind playing over the limestone is the least dangerous feature of the landscape.
(Heavily inspired...by which I mean stolen...from the Madagascar tsingy lands.)
3) Heretic Rock
Most assume the massive plateau in the Wasted North is simply a peculiar mountain, perhaps moved there by magic. Nearly four miles high and thirty miles across in any direction, erosion markings turn its silhouette into a vague impression of a fist, raised to the Heavens in open rebellion. This is widely believed a curiousity, as few would dare penetrate the Waste to learn its secrets - it is widely known nothing grows there, and all life is predatory or worse. And who would ever believe that not only does the plateau feature into the creation of the Waste, but the entire structure was fashioned by mortal hands?
4) Web
Most residents of the continent of Siorhal are aware of The Deeping, a seemingly endless chasm (though only a dozen miles long), the bottom of which is occupied by a lightless sea and the walls of which are riddled with tunnels leading into all parts of the Lands Below. Hanging half a mile beneath the surface, suspended from immense adamantine cables, is a city the few remaining inhabitants call Web.
Constructed by the elves as a racially 'neutral' citystate, the cataclysm that created the Waste led to its widescale abandonment and the slow withering of its High Magic wards. No longer censured from its borders, the vile things of the lightless world set to slaughter. The few who remain in the city are descendants of those too poor to leave in ages long past, a ragged and desperate sub-breed of humanity scratching out survival. However, there are no greater guides to the Lands Below anywhere in the world, and none better trained in fighting the horrible denizens of those endless tunnels...and so, adventurers still make the treacherous descent.
1) The Fallen Sentinel of the Holy City
While historical texts and legends are divided over precisely where the Holy City once lay (save that it was clearly somewhere in the Wasted North), who it was holy to, and what purpose the Sentinel served, it is clearly there. An emerald statue of truly immense proportions, only the top of the Sentinel's hill-sized head and a single massive fist protrude from the blackened soil, resisting any attempts to be divined or carved, despite the clear tool marks from its creation.
2) Deathchoir Forest
Neither a wonder (being a natural formation) nor a forest, this hundred square miles of inhospitable beauty still warrants mention. Forming a natural barrier between the warring tribes of Hlaidet Isle, labyrinthine passages, caves, and semi-underground rivers cut their way through limestone pillars, on average thirty feet high, eroded to razor sharpness by the countless typhoons that rip across the island. There is not enough level ground in the entire area for a gnome to put one foot flat on the ground, and a single mis-step could skin a limb or sever an artery. Though the monstrous crocodiles of the caves are primarily sluggish, the belligerent and man-sized eels pose a great danger to tribal raiding boats plying the rivers. While eerie, the keening wail caused by wind playing over the limestone is the least dangerous feature of the landscape.
(Heavily inspired...by which I mean stolen...from the Madagascar tsingy lands.)
3) Heretic Rock
Most assume the massive plateau in the Wasted North is simply a peculiar mountain, perhaps moved there by magic. Nearly four miles high and thirty miles across in any direction, erosion markings turn its silhouette into a vague impression of a fist, raised to the Heavens in open rebellion. This is widely believed a curiousity, as few would dare penetrate the Waste to learn its secrets - it is widely known nothing grows there, and all life is predatory or worse. And who would ever believe that not only does the plateau feature into the creation of the Waste, but the entire structure was fashioned by mortal hands?
4) Web
Most residents of the continent of Siorhal are aware of The Deeping, a seemingly endless chasm (though only a dozen miles long), the bottom of which is occupied by a lightless sea and the walls of which are riddled with tunnels leading into all parts of the Lands Below. Hanging half a mile beneath the surface, suspended from immense adamantine cables, is a city the few remaining inhabitants call Web.
Constructed by the elves as a racially 'neutral' citystate, the cataclysm that created the Waste led to its widescale abandonment and the slow withering of its High Magic wards. No longer censured from its borders, the vile things of the lightless world set to slaughter. The few who remain in the city are descendants of those too poor to leave in ages long past, a ragged and desperate sub-breed of humanity scratching out survival. However, there are no greater guides to the Lands Below anywhere in the world, and none better trained in fighting the horrible denizens of those endless tunnels...and so, adventurers still make the treacherous descent.
Funeris
First Post
Norum da Salaex Wonders
The entire world is a wonder...unknown to the players in the campaign.
The Diam'bak Empire: A 6-7,000 mile long string of islands in the southern hemisphere of the planet. Each island is on average 1-200 miles long. The islands tend to be roughly diamond shape in appearance. It is an empire ran by the Yuan Ti. And supposedly, the islands are the remains of the fallen Yuan Ti god, Narsra. From space, the islands look like a serpent moving through the water.
Ste'sto Isles: These are tiny islands that run between the continent Mialon and Kran'iel. The islands were said to have formed when the Dwarven god Rorgard wanted to cross the ocean. Fearing drowning, he coaxed the earth into stepping stones for him to cross the great ocean.
Norum da Salaex: It is a continent. The continent has ripped away from the rest of the world in a war between gods, many years ago. Norum da Salaex now hovers miles above the rest of the world and it casts a long shadow. The god that severed it from the rest of the world has barricaded it against interference from the other continents and denizens of the planet. There is no teleportation or means of transport off of the continent and all of the other planes of existence are inaccessible to the citizens of Norum da Salaex. Any that do attempt are immediately sucked into the eternal fog (see below).
Of course, an entire continent hanging in space shifts the axis, orbit, and climate of a planet. As such, the world except for Norum da Salaex is dying slowly and painfully. At least until the god finishes what he started.
The Eternal Fog: The hole where Norum da Salaex used to be is now a vortex of water. Druids worship Phoee (supposedly the deity of nature that sleeps inside the planet). The waters of the ocean rush downward in the vortex clashing against the fiery flesh of the goddess, creating a ring of endless fog around that terrible spot. Any ships nearby are sucked into the vortex and pulled to their fiery demise.
The entire world is a wonder...unknown to the players in the campaign.
The Diam'bak Empire: A 6-7,000 mile long string of islands in the southern hemisphere of the planet. Each island is on average 1-200 miles long. The islands tend to be roughly diamond shape in appearance. It is an empire ran by the Yuan Ti. And supposedly, the islands are the remains of the fallen Yuan Ti god, Narsra. From space, the islands look like a serpent moving through the water.
Ste'sto Isles: These are tiny islands that run between the continent Mialon and Kran'iel. The islands were said to have formed when the Dwarven god Rorgard wanted to cross the ocean. Fearing drowning, he coaxed the earth into stepping stones for him to cross the great ocean.
Norum da Salaex: It is a continent. The continent has ripped away from the rest of the world in a war between gods, many years ago. Norum da Salaex now hovers miles above the rest of the world and it casts a long shadow. The god that severed it from the rest of the world has barricaded it against interference from the other continents and denizens of the planet. There is no teleportation or means of transport off of the continent and all of the other planes of existence are inaccessible to the citizens of Norum da Salaex. Any that do attempt are immediately sucked into the eternal fog (see below).
Of course, an entire continent hanging in space shifts the axis, orbit, and climate of a planet. As such, the world except for Norum da Salaex is dying slowly and painfully. At least until the god finishes what he started.
The Eternal Fog: The hole where Norum da Salaex used to be is now a vortex of water. Druids worship Phoee (supposedly the deity of nature that sleeps inside the planet). The waters of the ocean rush downward in the vortex clashing against the fiery flesh of the goddess, creating a ring of endless fog around that terrible spot. Any ships nearby are sucked into the vortex and pulled to their fiery demise.
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