The Shattered Lands; Latest Post: New Racial Feats

[Idabrius]

Halflings; Pried. The very words invoke the rigid societies of these people. Looking upon one of them in a robe or tunic that has silver, gold, wood plates sewn into it we are constantly reminded of their station in life--as are they. Unlike most of us, the pried are dominated not by their males but by their females. The Priesthood Council of Demat is composed singularly of female halflings. Most of their great thinkers, artisans, and leaders were female. A man is expected to learn and take on the caste-roll of his spouse and his children will follow his wife's caste-roll as well.

They were once slaves to the Cyclops, that much is commonly known. They lived on the Cyclopian Isles before the great city of Ker'yis was drowned; some still do. Their religion has been carried with them from those days, and they speak to their gods through intermediaries known as the Drowned Ones--their ancestors who did not escape the Drowning. Halfling worship is divided up into two camps or "courts". Some nations primarily worship the Sunwarden and her allies, who are a warlike tribe of gods that live on an island and some primarily worship the Reed Queen and her followers, who live in the Reedland. Both courts dwell in the Duat, receiving prayers and granting them from time to time. Collectively, these deities are known as the Masters of Salt and Wave.

The largest halfling nation this close to the coast is Demat, settled when they first landed after the Drowning. Its hero and founder was called Ysabell Calla Deathcaller and it was under her leadership that the nation was founded. Demat, like the other nearby halfling nation of Stêr, is a forest of tiered stone buildings and vast canals. The halflings know the secrets of drawing water from a low place to a high one, and of using it to open heavy doors and even to raise slabs of stone.

The halfling castes are divided into three general categories in Demat: The High Castes, which include priests and the sages, the House Castes which include the high artisans and engineers, and the Minor Castes which are the workers and lesser artisans. Farmers have a category of their own, considered socially equal to the House Castes for a family-head (matriarch) but all others are within the Minor Castes.

Halflings from any nation name themselves as a personal and then family name (which is inherited through the matriarch) followed lastly by their caste-title. Some important Caste Titles from Demat include...

Religious Castes:
Deathspeaker; the highest religious caste, the Mistcaller is a High Priestess, usually someone on the Priesthood Council.
Lorekeeper; a slightly lesser religious caste, Lorekeepers are religious historians, and may also be on the Priesthood Council.
Sunkeeper or Reedward; the clerics who oversee temples or religious ceremonies of importance, usually tasked with teaching apprentice clerics.
Mistcaller; a cleric with no standing who has passed her Trials.
Acolyte; a novice cleric who has not yet passed her Trials.

Scholarly Castes:
Seaholder; engineers trained in working with water.
Wordmason; scribes and other professional writers.
Willworker; wizards and other arcane spellcasters.

Most of the House and Minor castes are named after their professions; ie, "Highmason" and "Mason" for master and minor masons.
The political structure of Demat, the closest halfling nation, is based upon the Priesthood Council, established by Ysabell Calla Deathspeaker. The Council is composed of twenty seven clerics who are voted to serve for life by the High and House castes. The Council debates all courses of legislation whereas a specific caste of Wordmasons, the Truthseekers, run the court systems. Council debates require a majority vote for most normal actions.

The court systems of Demat are complex and sometimes convoluted. Truthseekers oversee them and make inquiries into the allegations (which may be brought forth by any caste, though Minor castes must have patronage from a House or High cast halfling before they may accuse High caste members) while each side is given the council of Lawknowers (whose caste-profession is dedicated to contemplating the laws of Demat).

Halflings are normally 36-38’ in stature. They normally do not wear beards or facial hair of any kind, though they do grow it and have to keep it trimmed.

Halflings of Demat (and Ster) tend to wear longer clothes with more layers; robes are the norm for higher castes. Lower castes wear fewer layers or even tunics. Members of every caste sew plates of gold, silver, ivory, chased wood, and other materials into their clothing in order to display their places in society and their pride in their heritage. These are often carved with small scenes from Pried history or long passages from the Kevrin Levr.

Sample Halfling Names (Female): Beladore, Berthild, Driserys, Metlia, Prostlon, Rozen, Ysabell, Alaiett, Armelle, Benac,
(Male): Adiuni, Belado, Conbrit, Disideri, Heranal, Lagu, Maeldoi, Kanan, Maonirn, Mihael

 

[Idabrius]

Perhaps the strangest city in all the north, Candovar gets its name from the corrupted Flint-Speak Brachos Ovarr which means “kind stones”. Up until a little over one hundred years ago, Candovar was an abandoned ruin, fit only for the brief stopover to wonder at its strange sights. However, in 2107 / 4075 Gabard the Slayer, a renowned warrior in his time, claimed the temple complex portion of the ruin as his keep.

He was soon taxing Deepmine merchants moving along the road as well as Southroad caravans. Within the decade, both routes had altered course to include stopovers in this new settlement. Within 40 or 50 years the city bloomed in size, taking in refugees, adventurers, and thrill-seekers the world over.


Government in Candovar
It may surprise you to learn that there is almost none. Unlike the civilized portions of the North, Candovar operates strictly without rule. Gabard left his position to a council of wealthy men and women, all former adventurers, and their places were refilled over the years in popular elections. However, besides organizing defenses of the city they do nearly nothing else.

It is said that money runs Candovar, and that is partially true. Money and knowledge rule the city, both magical and mundane. There are several wayward Brothers of the Book in the city who have great influence and there is also the Scholarium, an organization of mystics and will-workers.
The city itself is anarchic in structure and tact. However, since the best thing for everyone is usually to get on in order to keep the caravans safe, outsiders are usually not beaten or killed in a public or obvious way. Be warned, however, that just because the city functions does not mean it isn’t the most dangerous gathering of people in the North.


Citizens of Candovar
There’s no such thing as citizenship in a city with no laws. People set up places to call kip anywhere they like. This also means that the population of exotic folks, from halflings to eladrin, is huge in this city. They tend to cling tightly, forming communities amongst the greater chaos, but there are more of the other races here than any other single location in the North. In fact, the greatest concentration of Dragonborn that is not in hiding lives in Candovar.
Interestingly, Candovar is a place where most goblins (both Travelers and Settlers) seem comfortable doing business with mankind without forcing men to come to them.


Location of Candovar
Situated on the east side of the Iceflow and just north of the place where it runs into muddy swamps and ruin-filled lowlands, Candovar is also south of the Eikwood Forest and the Hobgoblin infested plains along the shore of the river there. This makes it a perfect location for goods to be ferried across the river into Weland or taken north around the woods to Lavaas.


Sites in Candovar
Amazingly, the entire city of Candovar is illuminated at night. Long ago, during the Gigantine Era, the giants who lived here brought a trove of jewels to the Gray Kingdom and had them fashioned into lightstones. These stones were placed on the tops of tall winding posts fashioned to look like intertwining roots all over the city. When night falls, each stone begins to glow softly. By the time dusk has ended, the streets are a calvacade of colors. Lightstones can be found in places other than tall poles as well; fountain-side lightstones are not uncommon and neither are alleyway stones that are built into the very buildings. All of these stones are affixed by some powerful magic and are nearly impossible to remove. In the rare cases that a few have been pried free, many of those went dark within a few days from damage.

The Shivers
There are portions of the city where the Lightstones don’t shine. These vast dark swathes are mostly uninhabited. During the day they are simply a bad place to visit, as one might be swindled or robbed by a local. At night however, not even locals tread these places. Many of the Shivers are unexplored or bear open doorways into untamed portions of the ruins, still teeming with wild things that have grown their over millennia of disuse. Every so often some foolhardy adventurer emerges from these places with an armload of ancient gigantine magic, but for every one who does so it is likely that ten die gruesome deaths.

The Courtyard of the Iron Circle
Gigantine Stepping Circles are uncommon. Even more uncommon is one that is in such good condition. Standing before the temple-complex at Candovar’s heart is a large giltwork circle laid into the ground. This circle is surrounded by twisted iron columns, each made of black meteoric iron that was hammered out by dwarves. The columns bear inscriptions on their length and breadth, and lightstones inset into their sides. The Iron Circle is the most well known Stepping Circle in Tamal.

It is said that there are mages who know the secret of activating the Stepping Circles and, by drawing one on the ground where they stand, can bring themselves from anywhere in the world to Candovar or one of the lesser known circles located in the ruins throughout the world.

 

[Idabrius]

Wizards, magicians, mages; whatever they are called, there are organizations the world over that specialize in their training and in allowing them to come together in social units. These are as different from each other as the stars from the sea, so it would behoove you a moment to sit down and read over what I have written. You may find insight into foreign peoples that you never knew before.

The North: The Brotherhood of the Book
In the North there is one great overarching organization that draws most mages into its folds. This is the Brotherhood of the Book - not that all of its members are men. The Brotherhood is a guild, of sorts, in which wizards who have passed the requirements of their peers (usually by crafting a Masterwork spell) are granted Master-ship. These Masters are expected to take on at least one apprentice and train them in the mystic art. Masters are entitled to wear black robes without insignia as well as black hoods. This makes a black-robed figure stand out in the North as a Master magician almost immediately.
Mages from the Broterhood tend to wear simpler things, however. They often see themselves more akin to master craftsmen than to powerful will-workers. The Brotherhood has no formal structure other than the Master-Apprentice hierarchy. Masters have complete control over an apprentice, though most treat their young ones with more or less compassion and care. The Brotherhood gathers at least once a year in disparate places across the north. The most often used sites for these meetings are uninhabited and out of the way ruins where they share warm ale and tell stories by starlight.

The Brotherhood does have a vague notion that the status quo is preferable. To this end, while many may get caught up in various nationalistic emotions, as a whole the Brotherhood tends to disdain warfare and any other changes that might destroy the lands where they make their livelihood.

Masterwork spells are often rituals that are passed between one member of the Brotherhood to another for a nominal fee. They also frequently bear the name of the Brother or Sister who crafted them - for example, Waylund’s Wasting or Martinus’ Servant.

The North: The Scholarium
Located in Candovar, the Scholarium is a small school of wizards and warlocks who share their adventures and their secrets. They were founded by several like minded adventurers who settled in Candovar in their twilight years as the city grew. The halls of the Scholarium are closed to all but the elect few. Most members must prove themselves before they are admitted. While they take a few pupils every year, the number is extremely small.

Brothers view Scholarium training almost as badly as they view Waystriders. Many see it as even worse, for where Waystriders are at least interested in knowledge for its own sake, Scholarium scholars are little better than glorified thieves (in their eyes) seeking to loot the treasures of lost ages.

 

[Idabrius]

Deepmine: Campaign Entry by Matt Dougherty

The Reminiscing of Elias, Master Tinker of Cantorhill

Chapter the Eighth: In Which I Entered the Kingdom of Deepmine

It was the 8th of Maimakterion in 2214 by the Years of Kings when I got my first view of the lands of fallen Rwd-Parcham. The caravan-master told me that in the night we had come around the southern edge of the woods, and were now some week’s journey southeast of the Singing Vale, or would be if we were going that way. As the dawn burned away the mist that hung over the land, I beheld a long series of rising and falling hills, covered in places with tumbled rock and in others with hardy, low shrubs with woody stems and thick heather that was now falling into its winter grey.

Our purpose was to travel through as much of the kingdom as we could, trading Cantorhill goods for the minerals and metals that the people of this place took from the earth, until the beginning of autumn. We would have to turn back, then, for the wild storms that had wracked this place for as long as anyone can remember are always the worst closest to the month of Gamelion, when Rwd-Parcham fell.

The caravan guards had tried to frighten me with tales of the storms while we were traveling, telling me of how there were winds so strong that they’d lift a fully-laden donkey off the ground, and hail that would flay the flesh from your bones. Worse, there were ripples of sorcery in the storms that could do just about anything to a man caught in them. The lucky ones would survive with bone spurs where their eyes used to be or blasphemous symbols seared into their flesh. The unlucky ones died screaming as their blood turned to poison or their flesh melted into swamp water.

I don’t know how true their stories were, but they frightened me nevertheless. What man wouldn’t be frightened of the storms? I had heard that the people of Deepmine lived in the shafts of their mines, covering the entrances over with roofs of hide and carving their houses into the rock itself. They would stock up food for the autumn not leave the shelter of their underground towns from Posedon through Anthesterion. Then they would begin the winter mining season, hauling ore all through the biting winter and trading it to those few caravans who made the journey in the snow. Back in Cantorhill, it was known that the winter was the best time to buy metal, because the Deepminers are always desperate to sell in order to buy enough food to make it through to spring. One harvest can’t store up enough food for both the storm-season and the winter, after all.

As the light increased, the caravan master pointed out one of those towns to me not eight miles distant. It looked barely like a town at all: a mud-colored dome no taller at its top than the temple of Veana in Cantorhill, nestled in the leeward side of a bald hill and surrounded by patches of farmland. Broadshield, it was called, for it is thought lucky in Deepmine to give a town a name that signifies protection or refuge.

Less than ten miles to the south of Broadshield rose slender, gently curving walls and towers made of white stone tinged with a delicate pink like the first streaks of dawn. It was an old Eladrin city, its walls shattered and many of its towers cast down, but still looking like a flower that had grown there rather than the work of mortal hands. As we rode on, I marveled at how these buildings with their almost translucent walls could withstand the same storms that forced the people of Deepmine to huddle underground and buy seed from us each year so that they could replant fields poisoned and torn to shreds by foul rains.

I was pulled out of my reverie by the hoofbeats of one of our scouts returning. He checked his horse and said to the caravan master, “Demon market on the move, coming this way.”

“Veana’s blessed staff!” swore the caravan master, “This early?” Then he turned and shouted at us all to come to a halt, and at the guards to keep their weapons ready and visible. Trembling, for you must remember that I was only a newly-minted tinker then and quite young, I asked one of the ox-cart drivers what a demon market was.

“Tiefling scum live in the hills around here. Paella knows how they make it through the storm season, but when it’s quiet they roam from town to town selling the hides of their oxen, trinkets they steal from the ruins, and anything else they can get their blackened little hands on. Trouble is, they’ve got writs from the king in Haven that give them the right to stick their noses into our business during their trade season and make sure we aren’t carrying any goods that are their purview to sell. If they think you’re well-armed, they’ll ask for a little coin as an ‘import duty’ and make some noise about any spices or luxuries you have. If they think they can manage to bully you, they’ll confiscate some of your goods and maybe rough you up.”

“Isn’t that bad for trade?” said I.

“When you’re a caravan-master, you have to expect a little robbery, legal or otherwise, somewhere along the way, boy. The question is whether you get enough coin back to make it worth your while. Some say the king doesn’t dare rescind their writs. Others that he’s been bewitched and won’t. Me, I think that he keeps the tieflings around because he doesn’t like that his kingdom is dependant on merchants like us to survive, and wants to stick a thumb in our eyes once in a while.”

One of the guards cried out a warning, and over the next rise in the road I could see a tattered red and gold banner with a black serpent winding across it. About a score of men and women on horses came up over the rise, all of them armed with good but motley gear. As they approached closer, I could see that they were all tieflings, marked with the deformities of their kind. One of them, a broad-chested man with angular features and a flame-red beard that moved and crackled of its own accord, rode forward from the rest, and pulled his horse up short in front of our caravan-master, who stood with his arms crossed.

“I am Dom Isore la Grave, master of the Market of the Black Serpent. By the writ and seal of King Julyenn, I have the first right to trade in the area of Broadshield, Leeward, and Cradle. Do you dispute this?”

“No, Dom,” said our caravan master, “I do not. With apologies, I thought that you would not begin your trade until the end of Maimakterion, and did not think I would be intruding.”

“The King’s Magisters predict that this will be an early and harsh storm season,” said the tiefling. He looked around at the caravan with eyes like guttering coals. “Tell me, friend, what goods are you selling?”

“Seeds, cloth, grain, wine, and hides, mostly,” was the reply.

“Mostly,” Said the tiefling, and his grin was terrible. He looked over the caravan again, and I felt his eyes weigh heavily on me. “I see there is a tinker among you. Come here, boy.” Well, I can tell you that I felt my stomach sink right quick, but I came rattling up there with my pack anyway.

“Yes, your lordship?” says I.

“Tell me, tinker, do you sell any herbs, philters, unguents, or potions?”

“I have some cooking spices, your lordship, and sheepsalve that’s good for wounds on man or beast.”

“I see. And what services do you provide?”

“I mend pots and clothes and sharpen blades, your lordship.”

“So,” he leaned close to me, and I could smell brimstone on his breath, “You don’t sell any strange oddments you might have happened to pick up on your way, or tell fortunes, or cure ailments?”

“No, your lordship,” I said, and was proud to hear my voice steady, what with him glaring at me with his horse and his sharp sword and just slightly pointed teeth.

“Good,” he said, and looked at the caravan master, “Hides are within my purview, sir, and I’ll take a duty for them. Three barrels of wine.”

I slunk back to the caravan while the master and the tiefling dickered over what was and wasn’t a fair duty. We were underway within the hour, and by nightfall had set up near Broadshield. The greasy smell of its cookfires hung over the entire area, and the people were ragged but proud. I did a lot of trade in tool-sharpening over the next few days, and we sold much grain and seed. We didn’t see that particular demon market again on that trip, but I tell you truly that the tieflings are a plague and a nuisance upon the already troubled land of Deepmine.

 

[Idabrius]

Lavaas, a history

Preface
This work will detail the history of my homeland in terms that I hope any man or woman who can read Floran will be able to understand. The singers will carry it to the Eikwood to share with the elves so that it may join their traditions and legends as well. A copy will be sent to the dwarves at Vegrin so that they may place it safely in their vaults where no man may tread.

This has been seven years in the writing, and now that I am finally free of the burden of this text I can only hope that scholars will copy it the world over and the history of my people will be remembered.

Since the Nor∂manu kept no dates other than the number of years their current chief or king ruled, I must use the Floran system of timekeeping. With this in mind, a few dates are important to remember before the chronicle begins:
1st Year of Kings (1998th Year of the City): The birthday of Evrard the Lame who instated the Roll of Kings
114 K. - The Florans defeat the Aylmen in Ayland (modern-day Rutland) after a rebellion against newly-established Floran authority in the region of Arbellor; they march south to consolidate their victories.
119 K. - The defeat of the Wellings and the establishment of the new Floran capital at Aescon; the Site of the Relics is consecrated and the Floran king Clovis declares that his goddess Pallea is descended from the union of the Floran goddess Nyx and the Nor∂manu goddess Mallearn.
559 K. - Subjugation of southerly Nor∂manu tribes in modern-day Lavaas.
793 K. - Total control over Lavaas (La val) established, last Nor∂manu tribes are subdued.
801 K. - The Sargothine Wars begin.
1110 K. - The Sargothine Wars end with Sargoth's surrender to terms.
1237 K. - The Amaranth Line dies out; the Empire is thrown into chaos.
1312 K. - Korlan the Young establishes the royal house of Lavaas (the Coralaine, named after Korlan) by defying the edicts of the perpetually weak Cantor-regent.
1330 K. - The Red Summer War; Korlan takes his new people to war against the Regency. They are repelled, however the Aylmen (by now known as Rutlanders) take the opportunity to strike back against Regency garrisons in the region and win their own freedom.
1336 K. - Ruttish warriors sack Regenthill, signaling the failure of the Regency to reclaim Imperial power.

The Coming of the Florans
The Florans came to Lavaas late in their Imperial conquests. Spreading out from Aescon, they already commanded a good deal of the north and were inching their way down towards the Midlands. The Floran general and imperial consul Marten Phillipi led the first wave of conquests into Lavaas and effectively divided the Nor∂manu tribes that lived there along regional lines. By using their own hatreds and feuds against them he was able to secure a relatively stable border that followed the Iceflow river and gave him an opportunity to shuttle troops across the build permanent garrisons.

His work was followed by the Amaranth Emperor Juston IV who ordered the complete and utter subjugation of all border-tribes in the empire. This involved not only Lavaas but the marshes south of Weland and several other border areas. It was during this period that the dwarf settlements of Vegrin and Stavanger recieved their land holdings in guarantee by the Amaranth line as part of an agreement to assist in bringing those regions under imperial authority. Positions of governorship were established in Lavaas and the program of cultural eradication was undertaken there as it had been throughout Floresan as native practices were discouraged and foreign southern social customs came to dominant.

The Sargothine Wars
When the first Sargothine Wars began, Lavaas served as little more than a recruiting station for the Floresan armies. Bold Floresian knights were accompanied by the "wild companies" of Lavaasinian footmen. The classical fighting style of the Nor∂manu was exploited to create these wild companies each of which was more likely to be lightly armored and carry a familial sword (as they could afford no other weapons.) However, pay was good in the Floran levees and soon the wild companies began to form a real power base back home. When the Sargothine Wars finally came to an end, generations of Lavaasin soldiers had been trained under Floran command. They knew how to stiffen their ranks with dismounted knights and how to make use of the heavy shock power of well-trained and armored horsemen.

Collapse and Decline
At first, when the Amaranth line failed, the Lavaasinians followed the new cantor-regent in the same way as all the provinces. However, as structure and order in the south began to break down many local Lavaasinians who had been part of the wild companies began to think of grabbing power for themselves. After all, they were heirs to the Floran strategies and cultures just as much as the Florans themselves were. To be honest, their thinking was not far off the mark. By this point in history there was no true Nor∂manu blood left as the intermarriage of Floran settlers and utter eradication of customs native to the Nor∂manu ensured the Florans would inherit Lavaas no matter who was in command.
The bravest and most daring of these wild-captains was Korlan the Young, so-called for his extreme youth at the time of his first battle. He openly defied the cantor-regent in Regenthill and declared himself chief governor and Prince of all Lavaas. When the regent was weak enough to agree to this self-made title, Korlan decided that the man didn't deserve the power he wielded. By the end of that year Lavaas expelled all Regenthill tax collectors and officials. Korlan himself took oaths of fealty from his warbands.

The Six Houses
The captains of each of these warbands went on to found one of the great houses of Lavaas. The Teralsons, the Hardottir, the Genner, the Veynsons, the Degerre, and the Savor each lay claim to Ducal power because one of their ancestors was a captain under Korlan's command. Korlan himself founded the royal house of Lavaas, though his own offspring would never rule.

The coming of the Coralain
In the year 2105 K. the King of Lavaas, a man named Stag Olafson, abdicated the throne. He was under extreme pressure from the general estates and the five Dukes and one Duchess of the kingdom as he had forcibly seized power in a coup almost a decade earlier. After several defeats against the armies of Weland along the southern banks of the Iceflow, the land was ready to see a new man take the throne. His cousin, Lars Olafson, was crowned. However, Lars refused to take Stag's surname. Rather, he gave himself a new one, fashioned after the name of the prince who gave Lavaas its freedom - Korlan. Therefore, he became known as Lars Coralaine.

 

[Idabrius]

Lightstones
Lightstones are a curious occurrence; they were developed by both dwarves and eladrin though apparently in separate and parallel methods. A lightstone is a gemstone of high quality that has been cut and prepared in just such a way as to enable the potent enchantments that cause it to glimmer and glow to seat themselves within it. The brilliance of any lightstone is enough to see at least forty feet in the dark.

Dwarven Lightstones
The Græwys generally set their lightstones (of whatever color) in a metal bracket in the center of a lantern (who’s innards are composed of mirrored silver). These stones last nearly forever, shining out powerful beacons. Græwys lanterns are rare, even amongst their people. However many dwarves enjoy the various colors cast by the different lightstone gems and, to mimic this style, often find ways to color the reflective surfaces they use in everyday lanterns.

Dwarven lightstones, weather in torches or not, are highly angular and extremely durable. Their power does not dim nor wear over time. As rare as they are, it is even rarer to see a dwarven lightstone in a pommel or on armor. They are far too valuable.

Eladrin Lightstones
The eladrin lightstone is far more versatile than that of the dwarves. Eladrin enchantments can nest in lower quality stones, and thus the carving and grinding process is far less exact. Eladrin lightstones are used in their architecture, clothing, and weapons as the highest form of decoration. However, since the enchantments are weaker, the eladrin lightstone ceases to glow after about one year. At that time, it is common for an eladrin Lordling to re-enchant the stone, giving it back its luster.

The eladrin have perfected an even lesser version of their lightstones, which requires only the basest of materials. Mere glass baubles or trinkets can be enchanted to glow as well, though this magic is so weak that it wears off within eight hours. The magic can be stored however, to be called forth at a secret word, for centuries before being activated.

 

[Idabrius]

Dragonborn: The Vanished World

I have been called dragon, slaver, monster. I have been spit upon, shouted at, hated. I have never lived in an eyrie or a tiered city. I have never taken slaves nor have I assaulted men for no reason. Yet there are still those who will say my name as a curse.

I have spent my life recovering the fragments of my people's history that remain. To this end, I've spoken with the elder Dragon-kind and I have sifted through the ruins of our tumbled cities to find our history.

This is what I know.

The Dragons were first. It is said that in those days the three worlds were covered with darkness. When the Dragons came (Ed: The fact that the Dragons came seems to suggest that they were somewhere else originally, but our source has no real insight into this pre-mythical period) they burned away the cloying clouds of shadows. They fought the things that they found there, though from my understanding in no systematic manner like the Giants (Ed: The author is referring to the Gigantine Wars, which myth says is responsible for destroying the 'dark things' that inhabited the Middle World).

After the Dragons came my kind, the Dragon-born. I could not discover what the ancient histories had to say about the time between the birth of my kind and the other races. What I do know is that by the time they had emerged the empire of Abuz had already been founded.

Abuz's capital was in the far south, in the steaming jungles beyond what you call the Glittering Lands. The empire was ruled over by the Dragons. They were mighty as gods to us, and we served as their priests and intermediaries amongst their captives. The Giants were ever an enemy of great Abuz, seeking to take territory that we had long held as ours. Abuz was not a strong empire; certainly they had warriors and magicians. Socially, the empire was weak. Each Dragon had his own cult, as many still do today. A conflict between Dragons could tear the empire apart.

Through years of warfare it wasn't until the Wasting when the Giants became aggressive and dangerous enough to threaten what structure there still remained in Abuz. I don't know what first caused the empire to fracture, but the Giants seemed determined to wage a war of conquest right into its very heart. Countless factions emerged all over Tamal. The unity of Abuz was shattered, and the Dragonborn were all that was left behind. One by one our mighty gods were slain or occulted into hidden places. They fled from the world, and we followed. Those who didn't were slain by the change of the eras--they could not withstand the force of the tide.

The outposts of Dragonborn that still remain have hidden themselves away from prying eyes. Some of them go on as though there was no fall, no change from the ancient days. Some were altered by the upheaval in ways that no Dragon could've predicted.

Luckily, our very appearance and the memory of our might keeps too many people from making comments. Those that do think twice when my eyes fall on them and single them out in a crowd.

 

[Idabrius]

Annwnayah
Eladrin culture in Jandana is largely influenced by two major facts: Eladrin live until killed and have a birth rate comparable to a mortal race. This has bred a society fraught with violence in which major wars are undertaken at a much higher rate than in mortal lands.
The Eladrin arrived in their current home some time over twelve centuries ago (by Eladrin count) and settled lush basin that would become known as Dinas Ayah, the Silver City. The records of the eladrin’s long journey and final arrival, the foundation of their glorious Silver Empire (Annwnayah) and their extensive history were kept by the cyfar, story-tellers who were hired by wealthy patrons. Eventually five great families arose as the most powerful patrons in the new-founded city. After a brief period of intense inter-family warfare the other kinship groups were subdued and began to gravitate towards one of the great Five. By this method of appropriation all historical heroes and distinguished personages became attached to one of the Five Families. By the time of the Incarnate King Hesam, the Five Families had codified each of their great stories into huge tomes bound with leather and gold that were kept in shrine-like conditions at the seat of each Families’ power.

These books are known collectively as the Five Branches, referring to the Eldarin view of the forking path of history. Each moment, the Eladrin theologists claim, contains in itself its own opposite. Therefore, any recorded history is but a “branch” or a cutting from a larger garden of complex interwoven truths. None of the Five Branches are without bias, and most have become so layered since their creation that the original tales have been obfuscated entirely.

The people of Annwnayah are ruled by an Eladrin known as the Incarnate King. The great priests (most notably Araxa) in times long past have determined that the Incarna manifests himself (or herself as the case may be) by certain signs that only the Kamdin Presbyter can hope to recognize. Candidates for the Incarna must be chosen from one of the great Five Families, as it is only through their noble bloodline that the divine can manifest. The Incarnate Ruler is a personage with mighty divine implications. The “garden” of history is believed, in the Incarnate, to be fully represented. All contradictory truths find unity in this figure and thus the Incarnate is truly Divine. Lesser Incarna (those who show the potential for being Incarnate Rulers) are less fully divine due to the presence of the Incarnate Ruler and his theological significance. No Incarna can be the culmination of the divine opposites if the Incarnate Ruler is serving that function.
The Five Families are forbidden by strict custom from intermarrying in order to preserve the pool of Incarna and make certain that the numbers of potential candidates to the Rulership do not dwindle. Eladrin chosen as potential Incarna are sequestered from childhood with other Incarna and are all brought up in the art of ruling the Empire. It is frequently the case that the current Incarnate Ruler choses his own successor from the potential Incarna. However, there have been several notable cases in which the Kamdin Presbyter acted against his Ruler’s choice and elevated a different Eladrin.

One of the most important events in the history of Annwnayah was known as the War of the Incarna. Following the death of King Rahkshan and his Presbyter, several of the Incarna children manifested the signs of the Ruler. Without waiting for a new heir to be chosen, the Incarna Esfander crowned himself the Incarnate King of Dinas Ayah. Because he was crowned by a mere thearch and not the Kamdin Presbyter (who had yet to be replaced), his rulership was open to accusations of illegitimacy. Though it was Esfander who eventually drove the marauding Fomori armies from Annwnayah, as soon as the war of defense had ended militias sprang up the Empire over in order to defend their candidate. Esfander was eventually murdered by the Incarna Vahid, and many of Esfander’s followers fled to the Middle World during the time of the Confluence. Secretly encouraging these political purges, Vahid convinced many of those supporting losing or dead candidates to flee Jandana. When many of their numbers had been depleted he himself had the Kamdin Presbyter crown him.
Vahid later died in the Black Horror which slew many of the deathless Eladrin. After this plague had ravaged the Empire for nearly a century, the Incarna Rayhaneh was made Queen.

Society in Annwnayah
The largest population center and producer of all culture in Annwnayah is the capitol, Dinas Ayah. This is not because it is situated in a particularly favorable location or because the apparatus of government all operate from this point. Rather, it has been built up through myth and legend over the centuries to have a cultural gravitas and weight that no other city in Annwnayah can match.

The lifespan of Eladrin (being nearly eternal) lends to a different societal structure than one that mortals are used to. Some Eladrin consider themselves first and foremost a warrior, waiting only for a war which requires him or her to leave their daily drudgery of maintaining the Empire. Even artisanal and farming classes believe in the necessity for constant warfare in order to keep Annwnayah from being overwhelmed by hostile foes—and they are not wrong, for Jandana is a dangerous place. Of course, there also exist many tracts (the most famous being Social Responsibility by Araxa) that decry this attitude as dangerous and foolish, not to mention heretical. The very fact that these writings exist, however, and their general popularity indicate that there is at least some group of Eladrin who behave this way.

The great majority of Eladrin in Annwn are either share-farmers or artisans located in one of the great cities. Dinas Keshvar and Dinas Kuhha are both major trading and crafting cities in Annwn. The gnomish wanderers of the southern regions frequently make stopovers in Dinas Kuhha to trade with the Eladrin there; as gnomes are known to bring bits and pieces of every culture they come into contact with, Dinas Kuhha has a reputation for being somewhat of a cosmopolitan nexus—while Dinas Ayah represents the long traditions of Annwn, Dinas Kuhha is often associated with forward-thinking Eladrin and politically dissident ones. Many supporters of the Incarna Esfander, for example, hailed from Dinas Kuhha.

Marriage and childbirth in Annwn society has developed in a particularly stultified fashion. Perhaps as a reaction to the extremely long lifespan and fairly high childbirth ratio of their race, both of these events are major milestones in the life of Eladrin and are not undertaken lightly. The Annwn thearchy forbids remarriage and punishes extramarital childbirth (though not sex, as long as proper precautions are taken) with extreme harshness. Annwn Eladrin tend to marry only after they have matured fully and spent at least one hundred or two hundred additional years as bachelors. Women tend to control the marriage organization, and it is societally impolite for a man to approach a woman with a proposition.

The subject of the Rulership has long been discussed by scholars and priests in Annwn, and while there are a number of divergent opinions, nearly all support the divinity of the Ruler. This is not because of a system of oversight but rather because of the very powerful manifestations of the Divinity of various Rulers throughout history. The “monolithic” viewpoint on the Divinity is that of the priesthood—that the Incarnate Ruler incorporates all the disparate elements of truth and is in fact a unison not only of the Five Families (which are bound to support him) but also of all the metaphysical conundra of the world. The first Incarnate Ruler was supposedly the leader of the Eladrin when the crossed the seas and settled in the country of Annwn.

The thearchy of Annwnayah is fraught with many contradictions. While the Ruler is nominally the end-all on theological debates, it often falls (and is the custom to fall) to the elder scholars of the Empire to decide on theological matters. This is usually solved by the riddle-synod in which high ranking theologians gather together to ask questions in a rapid paced round-circle ritual. Scribes are always present to record these sessions in a special ecclesiastical shorthand.

The Kamdin Presbyter is at the top of the hierarchy, but rarely engages in synods. Rather, he is responsible for appointing the heads of the fourteen great theological schools that dot the fourteen provinces of Annwnayah. These fourteen men (or women) are known as the Masters, and they usually compose the entirety of a riddle-synod.

A separate arm of the thearchy is the Candescent Order, charged with hunting down heresy and expelling it. If the fourteen schools are the philosophers of the Annwn thearchy, the members of the Order are the fanatics. While tensions between certain devotions of thought amongst the fourteen schools are common, all scholarly theologians find something to fear in the Order. The White Seekers, as they are called, even cross the borders of Jandana to hunt down and exterminate exceptionally deadly heresies in the middle kingdom.

Interestingly, the notion of heresy is quite an alien one in a religion in which all truths are part of an intricate web. The theologians who founded the Candescent Order did so to prevent unnecessarily recursive arguments, infinite regressions, or things which the synods have declared theological dead ends. It is the purpose of the Annwnayah schools of theological thought to examine and meditate all possible paths of truth. Long treatises are often written just for this purpose; however when a certain line of thought is deemed unconstructive (recursive, defeatist, or otherwise suggesting that the Incarnate Ruler is not the perfect synthesis of the divine) the scholar who published the work is expected to turn his mind to more useful tasks. If he does not, the Candescent Order sends out one of its White Seekers to convince the unrepentant heretic to do so.

 

[Idabrius]

Racial Feats

Humans
Human Cunning: Per-encounter; reroll one attack roll and take the second result. Human beings are one of the most tricky races that live in the Lands. They’ve duped each other and the other folk times beyond number. Even the straightforward Floran people were cunning in war.

Slaves no More: +2 to Will saves. Slaves for uncounted centuries, most men do not even remember that they served the Dragon-tyrants in the dawn of the world. They don’t have to remember. As a race, they despise subjugation, and this memory has been passed down in a strong independent streak.

Dwarves
Secret Craft: +4 on all rolls involving metallurgy. +1 to hit and damage with any metal weapon. The Græwys know secrets that you or I cannot even begin to fathom. Secrets about the nature of metals and ores. They can speak with the soul of iron and teach it to sing.

Never Again: Reduce all pushes, pulls, and slides made against you by 2 to a minimum of 0 spaces. They can not forget what wrongs have been done to their people; for that, they do not budge. They will never yield again.

Dragonborn
Blood Sacrifice: You deal +2 damage to bloodied enemies. The Dragonborn once practiced dark sacrifices for their tyrant-gods. They still have a taste for the stuff.

Eternal Might: Once per-day, when bloodied, you can cause the attacker who struck you last to flee in terror if he fails a Will save. They are horrifying to behold; never more so when they are wounded. Do they not say that a wounded Dragon is at its most dangerous?

Eladrin
Master-at-arms: +2 proficiency bonus to damage with polearms. They practiced their hunting in the wilds of Jandana. Now that they are here, they hunt still.

Spell-lord: +2 to-hit and damage with all spells. No one knows the true measure of Eladrin might. In the old days they sank a city and cracked the world. Who can say what mysteries they have mastered?

Elves
Woodsman’s Senses: +2 to perception rolls and +1 to initiative. Living in the forests and communing with the spirits of nature for all those centuries has made them a keen-eyed people who can sense danger at every turn.

Wanderlust: See Light Step, PHB page 198.

Halflings
Touch of the Sea: +1d6 critical to any healing spell. Halfling clerics know their goddesses; vast districts of their cities are devoted to those Ladies of Salt and Wave. They, more than any other race, know devotion.

Caste Exemplar: Add +1 to your Charisma score. Halflings that accept their place in their own society are well-adjusted and friendly. It's hard not to get along with someone so secure and open.

Tieflings
Dark Blessing: +2 damage when bloodied. The fury of the Dark Ones courses through them; there are those who embrace it. Pray you never meet one.

Denier: +1 to Fort and Will saves. Those tieflings who try to overcome their heritage may be among the strongest men and women I’ve ever met.

 

[Idabrius]

Ancestral Racial Feats (Paragon Tier, Human)

Northern Humans:
Heir to Floresan
The glories of Floresan have faded, but the stories of its wonders shall always live on. The Florans feared nothing, and pushed ahead into the darkest of situations. You gain Resistance 5 against necrotic sources.

Amongst the Ruins
Living in the wreckage of former glories have made the men of the north surprisingly resourceful. When you spend a healing surge, add your highest stat modifier to it.

Midlands Humans:
Against the Wild
Fighting off the encroaching wilderness has never been easy; the Midlanders know this truth more than any other. When facing a natural enemy you receive a +2 power bonus to-hit and damage.

Trade Above All
There is only one thing sustaining the Midlands kingdoms. There is only one way that they will not be swallowed up by the night. That one thing is trade, the lifeblood of the Midlands. You may purchase an item at an additional 10% discount and you may sell items at a 10% markup.

Southern Humans:
Decadence of the South
Older than any other, more mighty, more gilded, and more corrupt, the South stands as an example of the best things man can build and the worst societies he can create. Whenever you spend an action point to take an action, calculate your charisma modifier as though it were one plus higher until the beginning of your next turn.

Know your Place
Masters of slavery and command, the Southerners have always judged themselves better than the rest of mankind. In some ways, perhaps they are. You may immediately roll a saving throw against any charm or compulsion effect.