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Scalenex's other nerdy hobby: Fantasy RPG world building

Discussion in 'General Chat' started by Scalenex, Sep 4, 2015.

  1. Scalenex
    Slann

    Scalenex Keeper of the Indexes Staff Member

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    So anyway, ages ago I started creating a fantasy setting. I will likely never run an RPG in this setting because I just can't stop writing fluff for this. Also, I find building crunch for this somewhat tedious. By the time I had a good chunk of 3.5 ed crunch done, 4th edition debuted, people rebelled against 4th ed and turned to Pathfinder (the Kings of War to D&D's Age of Sigmar) and now D&D has 5th edition. Whatever. My setting is flexible enough to work for many different fantasy setting.

    So I’ve never been particularly thrilled with the D&D gods. Since I was 13 or 14 playing 2nd edition I started making my own. They weren’t that different from the official D&D gods. Then I did a lot of reading on mythology. Rather than make up a D&D god that was an ersatz of Thor, why not make a god Thor. I ended up populating a pantheon of 18 cherry picking deities from Pacific Northwest Native Americans, Norse, Greek, Hindu, and Egyptian gods with a few pulp fiction entries from my favorite comics.

    I still wasn’t satisfied. I really enjoyed reading about real-world mythologies, but I could never transfer that joy to D&D pantheons. At first I thought I was bugged by the needless variety. Okay so Elves, Dwarves, Drow, Goblins, Kobolds, etc etc each get their own god. Then you have gods for categories like smithing, war, death, the ocean. Often you had multiple gods for each race or multiple gods for natural forces. Example, there might be a benevolent sun god who makes crops grow and warms the planet and a malevolent sun god who causes heat stroke and thirst in arid environments.

    What really bothered me wasn’t the abundance of redundant niches. It’s that when writers develop a fantasy world. Doesn’t matter it’s a novel, tabletop minis game, RPG, video game, or movie they start with basic things they want (Elves, dwarves, sea epics, hot chicks in impractical armor, etc) and then once they are mostly done with the world, throw in the gods as an afterthought. The gods seemed ad hoc. Kobolds and Gnomes hate each other because of a rivalry between their gods. Fine, why is there a god for Kobolds and a god for Gnomes? If every race has a patron god, where do these race founders come from? In a pantheon of two dozen gods, may two or three pairs are siblings or lovers. Four or five pairs are rivals, but they aren’t interrelated.

    Norse mythology. When the gods wanted to chain the Fenris wolf, they had to trick him. They promised not to chain him, but Fenris wanted one god to stick his hand in his mouth as assurance. The god that volunteered was Tyr. They chained Fenris anyway and Tyr became known as the one-handed. The gods broke an oath, and Tyr, the god of laws and oaths paid the price. See? You never see that kind of depth in a fantasy setting. That’s what I want.

    So I decided to start with some gods then work my way down to the mortals. Now I have the goal of making it a viable D&D (or Pathfinder or whatever) setting, so I have some end goals in mind, but I have a rule. If it doesn’t make sense, it won’t be included. For instance I don’t see the monk PC class evolving unless you have a substantially large class of people that are restricted from using conventional weapons and armor, in dire need of sElf-defense, and somehow unable to take up another class that gets around restrictions (like Rogue). I don’t care if Eastern settings need monks. I need monks even less if the setting is based on medieval Europe.

    Let’s begin with the world of Scarterra!


    If you aren’t familiar with D&D or Pathfinder, you should be able to follow part one if you should be able to follow this okay with a WHF background, but I recommend reading this Wikipedia article on the nine alignments. Or just stop reading now and save yourself the headache.

    Part One: Basic Divine History.


    The Age Before Ages


    Turoch created the world and all beings upon it. He fashioned worshippers for himself and fed on their spiritual power in order to fatten them up metaphysically speaking. Later he would consume their souls when they were “ripe.” As time passed the world became too great and complex to manage alone (some say Turoch grew fat and lazy). Turoch was forced to create powerful servants to help manage his creation farm. The number of these servants was ten. For an age the Ten managed the world and delivered all the souls to Turoch, farming them as mortals herd livestock today.

    Turoch’s plan was to create servants who couldn’t get along with each other, so they would not be able to unite against him. Hallisan: Lawful Good (male). Phidas: Lawful Evil (male). Khemra: Lawful Neutral (female). Zarthus: Chaotic Good (male), Maylar Chaotic Evil (male), Nami Chaotic Neutral (female), Mera: Neutral Good (female), Korus: True Neutral (male), and Greymoria Neutral Evil (female). The gods, henceforth known as the Nine, all had a hand in shaping the world so their moral codes are imprinted on the souls of all mortals.

    Note you will probably want to reference the Nine’s specific alignments a lot as you read further.

    The tenth deity had both his/her name, sex, and moral code expunged from all historical records. The tenth deity is only known by its title, the Traitor (despite the fact that she would be more accurately called the Loyalist). Sometimes the tenth deity is known as the Whore of Turoch. Many Scarterran theologians guess that the Traitor was female making the original batch of gods equally split along gender lines. Some say the fact that male gods now outnumber female ones 5:4 is the reason why patriarchies are more common than matriarchies. (Yes, I stole that from Greek mythology. After Hestia yielded her seat on the Olympian council to Dionysus, the council was split 7:5 paving the way for patriarchal society).

    Notice that I made the extremist deities all male. This is deliberate. I’m not saying men are more extremist or anything, but I wanted romantic rivalries. See both Hallisan (LG) and Zarthus (CG) squabble over the affections of Mera (NG). Hallisan and Phidas compete over the affections of Khemra (LN) and so forth and so on. Korus being one step removed from all four female deities is sort of a ladies’ man, but for the most part Khemra prefers the Lawful men, Mera prefers the Good men, Nami prefers the Chaotic men, and Greymoria prefers the Evil men. Think of Korus as the god of rebound guys.

    Eventually the Nine rebelled against Turoch’s brutal reign. Tensions were building for centuries. Some of the Nine had empathy for the destroyed mortals. Others coveted Turoch’s power. Some felt both motivations. The Nine were not willing to act until Korus, who was the most widely liked among the Nine (by not offending anyone), shared a divination he had received that Turoch was planning to eventually consume them and create new servants fearing that his ten servants were growing too powerful. Mutual annihilation in the face of a shared enemy will help disparate people work together. The tenth servant of Turoch, known as the Traitor, merely pretended to go along with the others. S/he eventually reported on his/her sibling’s activities to Turoch. The motives are unknown though it widely believed that the Traitor sided with Turoch in order to bargain for his/her life. The Nine managed to defeat Turoch despite the Traitor’s interference.

    The three integral parts of the plan were poisoning Turoch through his tribute of souls, convincing some of the strongest souls to fight for their own freedom alongside the Nine, and tricking the Whore of Turoch with false information.

    Korus mystically shielded the Nine’s conspiracy from Turoch. Khemra came up with the Compact, a set of agreements to let the Nine (and theoretically the Ten) put aside their disagreements long enough to depose Turoch and share rule of the world after.

    Hallisan took the bravest souls and personally led them in a frontal assault against Turoch.

    Greymoria took the weakest of the souls and tortured and mutilated them until they were poisonous to Turoch when consumed.

    Mera took the greater portion of the world’s souls and sheltered them so that they would not be destroyed during the fighting of the Rebellion, allowing the world could be remade anew.

    Zarthus is credited with coming up with the idea of poisoning Turoch (though not the horrific method). Zarthus greatest contribution is said to be taking out the Traitor in personal combat once his/her deception was known.

    Phidas told the clever lies to disarm Turoch’s suspicions casting doubt on the Traitor’s reports, so that Turoch didn’t fight back until he was already poisoned. Turoch took Phidas’ betrayal the most personally, and Phidas suffered the most severe wounds of any of the Nine as a result of this. While he is mostly healed, to this day his face is ruined.

    Nami deliberately altered the battle plan at the last minute which coincidentally (or purposefully) backed up Phidas’ lies because the Tenth’s information appeared false to Turoch. Thus Turoch didn’t respond to the Rebellion until he was already poisoned.

    Maylar hung back for most of the battle. When his siblings were all but incapacitated, Maylar faked falling from a minor blow and then struck the final blow against Turoch when Turoch’s back was turn at the moment when Turoch was proclaiming himsElf victor and about to finish off Phidas.

    After the battle each of the Nine took a portion of Turoch’s corpse and fashioned it into a weapon or tool. A great many of the Nine’s favored weapons and/or holy symbols are representations of these items.

    Maylar was first to claim a trophy; Maylar forged Turoch’s heart into a spear. Phidas ripped the skin off of Turoch’s face and forged a mask to cover up his own now hideous face. Khemra took Turoch’s eyes and forged them into a shield. Hallisan crafted a battle axe from one of Turoch’s legs. Greymoria fashioned Turoch’s skull into a helmet. Korus crafted the bones and sinew of one of Turoch’s arms into a flail. Nami wove a bag out of Turoch’s hairs, out of which she pulls out all weather and a number of things you wouldn’t expect out of a fiber bag. The forerunner of Bags of Holding. Mera was the last to take a part of Turoch, aghast at the grisly idea, though she eventually took Turoch’s liver and fashioned into a comb, which can heal and remove spiritual poisons.


    Because the Nine all gained a portion of Turoch’s power by destroying them, the act imprinted itself on the cosmos. From now, all beings would become incrementally stronger by defeating challenging foes. The mortal souls that fought beside the Nine and lived gained a portion of Turoch’s power, becoming the first Dragons. On a related note, this is why modern mortals gain experience and levels from fighting things and overcoming obstacles. The mechanic is literally built into the fabric of Creation.

    With his body destroyed, Turoch was no longer a sapient being, but his strongest aspect: his all consuming hunger remained. His essence fuels the Void. A parallel plane of existence to Scarterra that seeks to consume everything.

    The Nine had agreed that they would share the management of the world in Turoch’s passing, each taking responsibility for creating and maintaining and element of nature. Each would also take one ninth of the surviving souls to fashion them into worshipers. The few souls that Hallisan led against Turoch that survived are said to have been the progenitors of the first dragons. These were divided equally among the Nine. The souls that Mera sheltered were also divided evenly between the Nine, or at least they would be when they were re-released. Most were kept in stasis. When a new race is fashioned they use some of these sheltered souls as “seedlings.” It is not known whether any of the souls mutilated by Greymoria survived. It is widely rumored that they became the progenitors of the undead and the foulest races.

    Hallisan had dominion over earth, specifically the minerals and resources therein. He valued the stability of stone and wanted to shepherd the resources of the world fairly.

    Khemra had dominion over the sun. This let her watch over all her eight siblings. As the architect of the compromises of the Compact, she allows the sun to set every day to limit her power.

    Phidas had dominion over the Barrier. The Barrier was erected by all the Nine but maintained by Phidas in order to prevent the Void from consuming Scarterra. Given that Turoch hated Phidas above all others, Phidas fears Turoch’s hunger more than all others.

    While the Barrier totally prevents the Void from sucking the life out of Scarterra, it does not prevent the Void from sucking heat out of Scarterra. The Void touches Scarterra on the poles of the world (which is cylinder not globe shaped). Because of the heat sink that is the Void, the climate near the poles is colder than the climate near the equator. The Barrier thins near the anniversary of the Rebellion every year (around the Winter solstice) than gradually strengthens afterwards (peaking at the Summer solstice) creating seasonal climate variations.

    Zarthus had dominion over the moon. Zarthus chafed at the compromises of the Compact believing it allowed the evil siblings too much leeway. When Khemra puts out her light, Zarthus stands ready to light up the darkness and illuminate the evil there for all to see.

    Nami had dominion over the weather. While Nami reluctantly admits that broad patterns are necessary for life to flourish, she greatly enjoys randomizing the weather for fun.

    Maylar had dominion over disease and decay. While he makes a big talk about their role in renewal, on some level he likes to watch things die.

    Mera has dominion over water, the essential element for all life. She wanted control of this because she values the well being of all.

    Korus has dominion over the cycles of the natural world: plants and animals. Korus was saddled with this huge responsibility because none of the rest of the Nine actively disliked him much. No one else was universally trusted with this, so he was sort of a compromise candidate.

    Greymoria has dominion over the ebbing and flow arcane magic of Scarterra. Since experimenting with souls, she has become obsessed with tinkering with the fundamental elemental of all creation.

    With the threat of Turoch gone, the Nine no longer could force themselves to agree to even simplest decisions involving running the world. While there was talk of empowering the souls of the new mortals with Gifts, it was nigh impossible to get two or three to agree on what to give the dragons much less all nine. In the midst of this stalemate, Nami decided to act unilaterally.

    Nami gave all mortals the gift of free will, ostensibly, so that they would not be puppets, playthings, or food for the gods. This angered some of the other Nine and delighted others. With free will the gods were no longer guaranteed an equal share of the world’s worshippers, or even any worshippers at all. The two trinities of Good-Neutrality-Evil and Law-Neutrality-Chaos remain as a legacy of the values that cut across the Nine. The alignments are impossible to snuff out so each of the Nine has some indirect influence since the alignments are based off of themselves, allowing them indirect influence. Still with free will mortals can choose how they act.

    Khemra was horrified beyond the others at the potential destabilization Nami had wrought. She was the next deity to act. She taught the now increasing populations of mortals writing. This way, they could keep records of what has happened (and what rules and laws they have), so that each generation could have some continuity in face of the potential change Nami wrought.

    Mera was pleased that a third of the souls of the world now had the choice to deny their evil patrons. She taught them how to control fire so that they may be able to appreciate the warmth and safety it provides and to hold the darkness at bay.

    Korus gave the next Gift. He mainly wanted to give the mortals the chance to thrive, so he taught them the rudiments of agriculture. This let them settle more areas and support larger populations, provided they work with nature instead of against it.

    Maylar has always held a dark Darwinist view of creation: He believed that the strong should be destroy the weak. Those who prove strong must be continuously tested in order to stay strong. He surprised most of his siblings by giving a seemingly benign gift, the rudiments of animal husbandry and hunting. He taught mortals how to use as many parts of the animals as possible. This was done so as to subtly plant a link between killing and personal gain.

    After much thought, Hallisan provided the next Gift. He taught some mortals the knowledge of mining so that they may utilize the fire they have been taught to control so as to forge lasting tools to better themselves through hard work.

    Zarthus watched the farmers numbers grow and saw how many took up various crafts based on Hallisan’s Gift. So that they were not consumed by work and could enjoy themselves and the products of their labor, Zarthus gave the mortals the concept of art (especially music) to inspire them and spread joy.

    Phidas believed then, as he does now that he deserved a larger share of the spoils of the Rebellion on account of the wounds he suffered during the Rebellion. So that mortals could better understand the value of what the Nine did for their benefit (and what he did especially), he gave mortals the concept of currency for his Gift. This was also intended to counteract Zarthus’s gift giving mortals a reason to work beyond mere sustenance, and to allow him a measure of control over Korus’ and Hallisan’s Gifts.

    After Nami’s Gift of free will, it was not long before Greymoria had the fewest worshippers of any of the Nine (they were horrified by what she did during the Rebellion). Out of spite she withheld giving a Gift to mortals for a very long. This caused her to lose more worshippers as appreciation for their Gifts drove converts into each of the other eight deities’ faithful. As time progressed, the most devout among the worshippers of each of the Nine had go-betweens who could channel divine magic. Greymoria had the least of these clerics by far. Much later, Unable to tolerate her low number of worshippers, she taught a small number of her worshippers how to control arcane magic and become the first wizards. This knowledge was quickly disseminated beyond Greymoria’s faithful (as she knew it would), until some followers of all the gods had become wizards, thus reducing the power and recruitment potential of her rivals’ priesthoods.


    The First Age: The Age of Dragons


    The world Turoch created was mostly featureless, but very fertile. It was said that all the land was flat and the shallow oceans were full of fresh water. During the Rebellion the terrain of the world was ravaged creating higher and lower elevations making water bodies less regular. As the blood of Turoch spilled over the world, his blood became salt. Because Turoch was the original architect of creation living beings need some salt to live. Because Turoch set out to destroy everything he created, living beings become sick or die with too much salt.

    Salt is antithetical to the Nine. While the Nine themselves cannot be hurt by mere salt, most of their spirit servants cannot cross a pure line of salt. In addition to salt which is believed to be Turoch’s blood, iron ore is believed to be remnants of Turoch’s bones. While the process of making steel burns away Turoch’s spite from the ore, wrought iron weapons (commonly known as cold iron) will overcome the damage reduction of the Nine’s spirit servants.

    While the special properties of silver was not immediately apparent to the mortals of the First Age, silver was created by the Nine as an antithesis to iron ore. Silver throughout Scarterras helps anchor the world and relieve tension on the Barrier. Dragons just liked it because it was shiny when polished, but this caused no problem. Silver provides the same mystical anchoring effect whether as ore or when refined.

    Most of Turoch’s blood fell on the ocean turning it all into salt water. Mera was able to purify the rivers and lakes to allow bodies of fresh water. Scarterra had one continent then like Pangea. In the dead center of the continent was a large body of water known as Mera’s Lake which served as the source waters for almost every river. She worked with Korus to help aquatic creatures adapt to living in salt water. Nami aided things further on land by converting salt water to fresh water via rain.

    Other changes to the world occurred as they Nine took turns shaping pieces of it. It is often said that a lot of the irregular features were created by Nami’ desire to make things more interesting, and that the rules of nature were applied by Khemra to keep things more consistent (water always flows towards lower elevations, trees stop growing past certain elevations, etc). It has been speculated by some that many of the irregular features of the world were created by accident rather than deliberate design due to a result of the Nine’s relative inexperience in shaping the world. Even then compared to the Second and Third Age, Scarterra’s land features were pretty unremarkable.

    Most of the souls saved during the battle were still kept asleep in sub realms of the Nine waiting for the world to be tame enough that they could thrive in the world rather than merely survive it. The mightiest souls who had helped slay Turoch were able to thrive almost immediately as did their descendants. These were the first Dragons. They were strong, highly intelligent, and long-lived. While not all Dragons now can burrow or swim especially well today, the first dragons had were the equal or superior in all forms of locomotion to modern dragons. The Dragons enjoyed the main Gifts of most of the Nine. Greymoria had not yet taught any mortals wizardry, but the dragons had mighty sorcery that they were able to wield arcane magic innately. Greymoria either could not or would not remove Dragons from this ability, so wizardry was quite unnecessary at the time. With the Gift of free will, many of the Nine worked hard to increase their share of worship and they showered lesser gifts and secrets upon the Dragons. The Dragons built powerful kingdoms on mountain tops, in forests, at the bottom of the sea, underground, even magically floating in the sky. Dragons existed for an age as the undisputed masters of creation.

    Over time, divisions began to arise in the dragon empires. First there were divisions based on what gods they worshipped. Then they began competing over living space. While dragons can survive almost anywhere, as their numbers increased the more comfortable places became scarce. Competition over magical items and treasure was just as fierce. They fought over differing opinions on how to deal with the lesser sapient races the Nine began releasing. Feelings of Dragon superiority eventually led to dragons claiming their own bloodlines, physical attributes, magical aptitude, or even geographic locations made them superior to other Dragons as well as other creatures. Eventually competition went from arguments and displays of power to outright violence and inevitably all-out war.

    Greymoria was fuming at her lack of worshippers and chose this time of dragon disunity to take her revenge on them. While most of the Nine had been creating their own new races to share the world with the Dragons, Greymoria had created the most. She had been quietly creating a number of creatures with which to challenge the Dragons for ages. In this regard she is said to have worked with Maylar a number of times, but legends speak of her creating monsters with all of the Nine, ranging from friendly partnerships to various forms of trickery and subversion. She unleashed most her children at roughly the same time. While few were any match for dragons, their numbers were great. Beset on all sides and fearing the loss of their powers and nigh immortal life spans, the dragon leaders of the various kingdoms ordered the younger generations to fight these hostile lesser for them. Naturally the young Dragons resented risking their lives to defend the lives of the people depriving them of the best treasure and territory. The rising generational divisions within dragon kingdoms gave rise to underground cults. While Greymoria and Maylar had some of the most powerful and feared cults, even something seemingly benign as a Mera cult could bring down an empire from the inside without meaning too by preventing a kingdom under Phidas’ sway from acting cohesively.

    All the conflicts and divisions wore the dragons down till the population was a fraction of what it was at the prewar peak. Cities were destroyed and lore was lost. The end result of the Dragon Wars was decided, all the Dragons lost. The linchpin in their decline was when a Dragon sorceress attempted to harness the elemental power of Mera’s Lake for her own devices. The spell did not work as she intended, instead unleashing thousands of elementals. Mostly water and earth elementals at first, but they quickly began awakening fire and air elementals in their wake.


    The First Unmaking

    The elementals battled each other and reshaped the landscape for inscrutable reasons, attacking any living being who interfered. With the dragons so divided by their warring factions, they couldn’t coordinate an effective defense for their cities, monuments, and farms. It’s also unclear how even a might dragon can “fight” a hurricane or volcano. Most of the non-Dragons didn’t bother trying to fight the elementals and simply sought shelter wait out the storm.

    Water and Earth elementals fighting split Scarterra’s mega continent into smaller land masses. The split’s epicenter was on Mera’s Lake. Mera desperately tried to hold onto her sacred lake. While much smaller than it once was, Mera’s Lake exists today right in the middle of the ocean. In the Second and Third Age, sailors would often navigate routes over Mera’s lake so they could pick up fresh water in the middle of the ocean. The water from Mera’s Lake is rumored to have healing powers but that is a misnomer. Many of Mera’s spirit servants live in and around the lake and will heal the worthy. Since these spirits servants are invisible, the Lake is given credit for the healing.

    The reason Scarterra’s mountains are usually in linear ranges is because these represent the paths of the largest marches of earth elementals during the First Unmaking. When they battled water elmentals inland the battle’s wake often lead to underground rivers and aquifers. Where earth elementals battled fire elementals, volcanoes were formed. Rarest of all were the floating islands created where earth elementals battled air elementals. Most of these islands have gradually sunk from the sky landing across Scarterra. When a large mountain is present in a mostly flat area, it’s usual one of the former floating islands of yore.

    Where fire and water elementals fought, are geysers and hot springs. Where water and air elementals fought are now areas of perpetual or near perpetual rain. Only one place remains in the Third Age marking where fire and air elementals fought. The inhospitable and aptly named Fire Plains periodically have fire rain from the sky, though thankfully not constantly.

    By the time the last elemental receded back into its dormant element. Only a fraction of a tithe of the Dragons lived and most of their cities and structures were in ruins. The Nine decided the Dragons had their chance and it was time for a new race of mortals.


    The Second Age: The Age of Elves

    As the dragon conflict was winding down, the Nine issued the first release (or at least the first mass release) of the souls sheltered by Mera during the Rebellion. This was done with more forethought than when the dragons were released. In the leadup to the First Age, the pressing issue was defeating Turoch, and how to handle the mortals afterwards was almost an afterthought. Now, the state of the mortals in the world was the only thing on the agenda.

    The Elves were created when it became clear to the Nine that the dragon civilization was on its last legs. Khemra called a meeting with her siblings. Maylar chose not to go since it was relatively obvious what the meeting was about. Maylar didn’t believe in coddling mortals. Khemra wanted to create a replacement race of weaker mortals to inherit the world and worship the Nine and Maylar wanted no part of it.

    Of the eight gods who attended, all but Greymoria agreed that they should create new worshippers. Despite losing the vote to create a new race, Greymoria stayed on the “divine committee” in order to have a continued say in the creation of these new mortals. All but Nami agreed on setting more exacting parameters on this next batch of mortals both because they believed (or hoped) that they could prevent another civilization ending cataclysm though Greymoria was hoping the exacting parameters would make them easier to control.

    The Elves were created to be physically weaker than dragons and with less innate magical power.

    -Khemra created what became the party line stating that they would have a more stable community less rife with power struggles if the Elves had less power to be tempted with.

    -Mera believed that if the Elves they were weaker than dragons, they’d have less ability to fight each other and more incentive to work together.

    -Phidas heartily agreed with both Khemra and Mera, but it is widely believed that Nami and Hallisan more accurately gaged his intentions. Phidas wanted more easily controlled mortals and a dependant populace.

    -Greymoria agreed with this without explanation. It is believed that she wanted to keep the Elves as weak as possible, believing that they would forsake her like the dragons before them and deserved to be weak.

    -Zarthus agreed to weaken the Elves as well. He stated that power corrupts. Then after a dramatic pause, he finished the cliché and said “and absolute power corrupts absolutely” for the first time in history. Then he looked at all his siblings darkly.

    -Hallisan opposed this claiming that a lack of power leads to corruption more than power.

    -Nami opposed this as well, claiming the other deities wanted their new flock of worshippers to be overly dependent on them.

    -Korus pointed out that the souls they were using as the base to create the Elves were weaker than the progenitors of the dragons, so that the Elves would be weaker than the dragons by an incalculable degree making any discussion about making sure they are weaker than dragons completely moot.


    The Elves were given a life span of centuries rather than living until violence, disease, or accidents claimed them.


    -Hallisan supported this claiming that this would lead to more bravery if people knew life was short.

    -Zarthus supported this putting a de facto limit on the term of office of even the worst tyrants, eventually they’d grow old and die.

    -Greymoria supported this with no explanation. It is widely believe she wanted to further weaken the Elves because she was opposed to them being created in the first place.

    -Nami supported this citing that there would be more room for generational change.

    -Korus supported finite life spans because all the other living creatures had them but was indifferent as to how long the Elves could live as long as it was less than forever.

    -Phidas tried advocated variable life spans based on the piety of the individual giving loyal worshippers several millennia and the most impious less than a half a century.

    -Mera opposed this, stating that living peacefully should be rewarded with long life and living forever should be a theoretically achievable goal.

    -Khemra opposed this, wanting finite life spans to prevent corrupt or anachronistic leaders becoming permanently entrenched, but she wanted life spans to be millennia long to promote more stability.

    The actual size and physical form of Elves took a lot longer to decide upon since pretty much all eight had different ideas and the Compact established earlier stated that at least five had to agree on something for a change in Creation of this magnitude. Eventually the humanoid mammalian form with pointy ears was decided on.

    Some of Mera’s stored souls were shaped into the first Elves. Then they were bestowed with the eight Gifts given Dragons and most other mortals. Once again the Nine gave gifts and lore to the Elves to both encourage their worship and to help them thrive in the world though they were somewhat less hospitable than what the Dragons once had.

    The history of the Nine was taught to the Elves. Once again Greymoria was reviled for her past deeds. Finally, she gave mortals her Gift. Though some Elves claim that Elves invented wizardry, it was Greymoria who taught the first handful of Elves how to control arcane magic externally. Most credit her gift as an attempt to weaken the power of her rivals’ churches, but at the time she and the first wizards claimed it was so the Elves had the means to fight dragons. For though the dragon empires were all but destroyed, the surviving Dragons were still a force to be reckoned with at the beginning of the Second Age and many wanted to prevent the Elves from rising to prominence.

    Unfortunately, similar divisions that the Dragon empires faced eventually plagued the Elves once they had subdued most of the landscape and either killed, driven off, or made peace with the remnants of Dragonkind. Elves divided by nation, clan, ideology and religious creed. They fought over land, wealth, and magic. Once again their internal disputes were exacerbated by external threats. Greymoria never stopped creating monsters. Just like she created hostile races to punish the Dragons for not loving her enough, so she created new races to plague the Elves. The other Nine had also created a number of sapients such as the Dwarves, Centaurs and Saytrs among others. Even generally good natured races sometimes warred with the Elves.

    While the Wars of the Second Age were terrible things they did not devastate the landscape on the scale of the Dragon Wars. What really sealed the Second Age’s fate was an overly ambitious foolish Elven king who wanted to become a god and force his way into a powersharing agreement with the Nine.

    The Nine fashioned weapons and tools out of Turoch’s body parts. A leg, an arm, his heart, his skin, etc, but most of Turoch’s body remained unaccounted for. The king concluded that if he could enter the Void and reconstitute a portion of the Void into one of Turoch’s unclaimed body parts, he could fashion it into a weapon and through that act gain divinity.

    Between his own magical power and those of his lieutenants he was seemingly able to mystically bind and carry a piece of Turoch’s essence out of the Void and into Scarterra. He died while attempting the ritual to forge that essence into a weapon. The site of this foolish became irreparably tainted, now known as the Black Water Wastes. Drinking “black water” does not kill but will inexorably mutate the drinker, causing hideous deformities and a malevolent disposition. While terrible, the Black Water Wastes did not create the Second Unmaking.


    The Second Unmaking


    Beyond the Barrier, Turoch’s essence began birthing demons not long after his death. Unlike the Demons of most fantasy games (and Judeo-Christian and most Eastern philosophies) the Void Demons had no interest at all in spreading corruption. They simply wanted to kill everything. Consume every soul. During the waning points of the Barrier brief temporary holes appear and disappear but they are too small for Demons to safely cross. If a hole closes while a Demon is halfway through it they will be slice into two. During the Second and First Age Demons rarely crossed the Barrier, always the smallest and weakest and never in large groups.

    The Barrier does nothing to mortals. To mortals it seems like a band of wind. Thus protected with negative energy resisting spell the king and his entourage crossed the Barrier easily. Once a piece of Turoch’s direct essence was carried by mortals through the Barrier, it effectively breached the Barrier allowing unprecedented numbers of lesser Demon to cross en masse. There were breaches large enough to allow the most powerful Demon Lords to cross.

    Over roughly a century, perhaps two the eight Demon Lords ravaged Scarterra. After the last Demon Lord was destroyed, the Nine were able to repair the Barrier, at least enough to prevent major Demons from crossing. Despite these repairs the Barrier is weaker in the Third Age than ever before. The pin prick holes that popped up before now pop up larger and more frequently than in the past allowing a slow trickle of lesser Demons through all year long. Around the Winter solstice when the Barrier is at it’s weakest point, medium level Demons sometimes sneak through.

    Demons communicate with each other telepathically. If they have names among their own kind, they are unknown to mortals. The eight Demon Lords were given titles by mortals based on their actions.

    The Demon Lords did not seem cooperate to a noticeable degree, but they did not seem to oppose each other’s efforts to a noticeable degree either. They were okay with everyone taking their own path to their shared goal. Lesser demons just took directions from the nearest Demon Lord they could find until their Lord died in which case they would disperse to their own devices or join the next nearest Demon Lord.

    The Demon Lords did not all walk the material plane at the same time. Accurate records dating the presences of Demon Lords were not kept given that most people were concerned with fighting for their lives and souls than chronicling events for posterity. Historians have constructed a rough timeline. The Demon Lords are listed in their order of arrival (not death). The Harbringer, Defiler, Extinguisher, and the Successor had relatively short reigns of terror. The Ravager, Annihilator, Vandal and the Corruptor had relatively long reigns of terror. I have yet to decide if a “long” reign of terror means years, decades, or a century.

    Some Unmaking historians theorize that there was Demon Lord to represent an anti-thesis to each of the Nine. The fact that there were only eight Demon lords is ominous. Did one cross in secret or is there a ninth Demon Lord still hoping to cross the Barrier. Optimists believe that there exists or once existed a Demon Lord equivalent to the Traitor who actually wants to protect mortals. Pessimists believe that the Demon Lords cannot be permanently destroyed and all eight are waiting in the Void for a second chance right now.


    The Harbringer
    : The Harbringer was the first Demon Lord to arrive. Despite being the first Demon Lord to fall, it was arguably the most powerful. It lead its army straight for the strongest Elven nation and brought it to ruin. The Harbringer’s difficulty is that as the first demon, it faced a fresh enemy. While the Harbringer benefited a bit from the fact that Scarterras nations were all reeling from their constant wars, the Elven Wars did not last much longer. Once the Elven nations realized the scope of the Unmaking they united against the Harbringer, its army was brought to heel and he was destroyed by titanic magic that split a continent in two with a narrow body of water, now commonly called the Strait of the Harbringer..


    The Corruptor
    : Very few mortals were insane enough to join the infernal (mostly wizards who experimented with Void magic before the Unmaking), but most of demon collaborators ended up following the Corruptor. The Corruptor also recruited most if not all of the world’s dopplegangers to its side. Dopplegangers ability to change their form could not fool the Demons, so they sided with the Demons in return for clemency.

    Doppleganger infiltrators brought a lot of fortified holdings low, until one day a Doppleganger betrayed the Demons and led a small party of legendary Elves towards the Corruptor itself. After the Corruptor was destroyed, his demon army struck back indiscriminately against every Doppleganger they could find in retaliation for the treachery and then dispersed to join other Demon Lords. Thus the Corruptor was the only Demon Lord to die outside of a large scale battle. It wasn’t pieced together until much later, but the Corruptor experimented with Doppleganger and Elven test subjects to create the first lycanthropes. Thus the Corruptor left the strongest legacy of any of the Demon Lords. Like the demons who created them, lycanthropes are vulnerable to silver, the holy metal of the Nine.


    The Defiler
    : The Defiler not only attack beings with souls that it could find, but it attempted to burn and level every forest and taint every aspect of the lands it touched so nothing could live there again. The main thrust of the Defiler’s offensive was attempting to spread the Black Water Wastes across the entire world. While the damage it inflicted was unspeakably awful, the Defiler’s reign of terror was actually the shortest of any demon lord. An alliance of Korus spirits and various fey creatures engaged his army and slew the Defiler. Mera’s spirits intervened to prevent a new Black Water Waste from forming, the Defiler’s legacy remains in the form of several new deserts. Not quite lifeless but a far cry from what they once were.


    The Vandal: The Vandal’s army claimed relatively few souls, but the Vandal was the last Demon Lord to fall. While other Demon Lords sought out the most populous lands to ravage, the Vandal focused on already defeated lands to harry the survivors and refugees. The Vandal ordered it’s minions to destroy ever artifact of civilization and level every building they could find. This predictable behavior allowed a small number of dragons and their allies to pick off the Vandal’s minions with hit and run tactics. When the Vandal was finally taken down by a combined army of battle-hardened survivors from its previous attacks, it was the smallest last stand of any demon lord. Vandal’s legacy is what is missing. The areas the Vandal roamed have far fewer artifacts of the First and Second Age intact than anywhere else


    The Extinguisher: The Extinguisher sent its armies to capture sites of latent magic power. After years of preparation the Extinguisher directed it’s minions in a massive magical and psionic undertaking and managed to summon shadowy clouds to block out the sun and moon over an entire continent for about three months before mortals figured out where it was drawing the power for the effect and attacked the Extinguisher’s minions who were harnessing the magic, thus killing the tainted eclipse. The Extinguisher put enough personal power into the effect that this weakened him enough to let himself be destroyed by the same mortal army shortly thereafter. The Extinguisher consumed relatively few souls, but caused a greater death toll than most of its peers by creating famines by starving massive amounts of plants of sunlight leading to unprecedented famines. The Extinguisher may have done more harm than good to the Demonic cause. After defeating the Extinguisher the army that beat him became a core of resistance for all other remaining Demon Lords.


    The Annihilator: Most demons focused on the Elves who dominated the world, but the Annihilator focused on the smaller less populous races, singling them out for complete destruction. It’s unknown how many races went extinct due to the Annihalor’s rampages. The Annihilator and its army was finally defeated once and for all by an army made up of Kobolds, Spirits, and the last scions of Nine countless forgotten races in what is now called the Desert of Tears. Sometimes called the Great Salt Wastes (since Demons turn into salt when they die).


    The Successor: Eons ago, Turoch farmed the world for souls. Most the Demon Lords spawned from his essence simply seemed to want eradicate all sentient life. The Successor seemed to be planning long-term attempting to capture settlements intact and turn them into giant prison camps with forced breeding for a sustained harvest of souls. Because the Successor tried to consolidate holdings rather than just destroy things and move on, the Successor’s enemies had time to mobilize. Massive Goblin-led prisoner revolts ultimately gave outside armies the opening they needed to destroy the Successor. Even though most of the former prisons of the Successor are demolished, the ruins of its prisons are cursed haunted places where the broken stones are said to cry out in pain and fear nearly every night.


    The Ravager: The Ravager was the Demon Lord’s Demon Lord. By the time the Ravager arrived, the entire mortal world had put aside to differences to unite against the Demon threat, but their populations were very low. Like the Harbringer it sought out the largest population concentrations it could find, but as one of the latter Demon Lords to arrive the population centers were not as large. After devouring swaths of mortals on every major continent. The Ravager turned towards the Isle of Lunatus and was ultimately defeated by the ancestors of the modern Elven Empire. No other Demon Lord had a longer geographic reach.



    The Third Age


    Elven civilization was in ruins and the vast majority of the Elven population was slain. A small number of Elves held out with their kingdom mostly intact on the island of Lunatus. A small number of Elves managed to survive by hiding in deep forests and allying with the supernatural creatures living there, a small number of Elves had made a pact with Greymoria for extra mystic power that allowed them hide in plain sight amongst the ruins of where the Harbringer first attacked.

    Yes, I am aware that I have created ersatz versions of High Elves, Wood Elves, and Dark Elves. It’s not like Games Workshop invented those ideas first. For that matter I'm aware that I have malevolent forces spewing out of the poles too.

    The Nine could have let these survivors expand but they didn’t feel like the Elves deserved to rule the world after one of their number caused the Second Unmaking. It was time for a new race to rule the world with the Nine’s blessing. Much like before the Nine met together (this time Maylar did not abstain) and together they eventually came up with the criteria they would use for the new race: Humanity.

    The Humans began expanding into larger tribes and kingdoms and are now the dominant race on Scarterra. Cue your basic fantasy setting. Mostly Humans but a fair number of other fantasy races scattered here and there.

    Now if you like psionics here's an story option. Before the Third Age, only Void Demons had psionics. After the Second Unmaking, creatures began to develop psionic potential in rare cases. Only races whose genesis happened during or after the Second Unmaking may develop this potential. Naturally this leads to paranoia and suspicion. Conventional magic users are especially threatened by emerging psions and wilders. Many psions decide to keep their abilities secret to avoid being accused of Infernalism.

    And if you want to run an epic campaign, you can always throw in a Third Unmaking. You know you want to...


    And Now For Something Completely Different...

    Did you expect ever mortal to agree with version of event above? Hah!


    Core Story

    Turoch created Scarterra to feast on the souls of everything on it. He eventually created servants to aid him in managing his larder, but they turned on him and split the managing of the world between them. Nine of his servants stood against him and their names were Greymoria, Hallisan, Khemra, Korus, Maylar, Mera, Phidas, Nami, and Zarthus. A tenth sided with Turoch as was slain, his/her name and identity are unknown, now called the Traitor.

    The Rebellion against Turoch began when….

    -Mera decided the souls of the world deserved better.

    -Korus foresaw that Turoch would eventually consume his servants because he was good at reading people.

    -The Traitor orchestrated the Rebellion in order to eliminate his/her siblings.

    -Maylar decided he wanted to replace Turoch.

    -Maylar foresaw that Turoch would eventually consume his servants and create new ones because that’s what he would do if he were Turoch.

    -Phidas foresaw that Turoch would eventually consume his servants because Phidas was closest to Turoch and knew him best.

    -Nami thought the world might be better off without Turoch.

    -Zarthus’ moral outrage overrode his self-preservation instincts.

    -Turoch subtly encouraged the Rebellion because his self loathing made him subconsciously want to die.

    -Turoch subtly encourage the Rebellion because he knew he had to be destroyed to reach a higher state.

    -Turoch subtly encouraged the Rebellion to see which of his servants were truly loyal and underestimated how many rebels there would be.

    -Turoch subtly encouraged the Rebellion because he wasn’t truly immortal, merely long-lived. He sought to die in battle for a more fitting end for himself.

    During the Rebellion Greymoria…

    -Poisoned Turoch by torturing souls meant for his tribute so severely that they could not be safely consumed

    -Created several monsters to aid the Nine in battle, most of whom were destroyed

    During the Rebellion Hallisan…

    -Led the frontal assault against Turoch backed with the strongest mortal souls.

    -Organized several mortal souls into a fighting force and sent them in first as expendable pawns.

    -Courageously fought Turoch by himself.

    -Struck the death blow to Turoch

    During the Rebellion Khemra…

    -Drafted the Compact so the Nine could put aside their differences long enough to overthrow Turoch.

    -Threatened to side with Turoch if her siblings didn’t accept her Compact

    -Was the last of the Nine to take up arms against Turoch, originally siding with the Traitor but the Traitor made Turoch believe that Khemra was also rebelling and forced her hand.

    During the Rebellion Korus…

    -Fought bravely besides his siblings.

    -Fought tepidly besides his siblings being almost indifferent to the whole outcome.

    -Shielded his siblings pre-battle deliberations from Turoch’s detection.

    -Managed to pick a site with favorable terrain for the battle.

    During the Rebellion Maylar…

    -Hung back for most of the battle and cunningly took a dive when struck so as to strike Turoch

    -Struck the death blow against Turoch.

    -Fled the battle after receiving his first wound.

    -Briefly sided with Turoch when it looked like the Nine were losing.

    -Overestimated the extant of his siblings injuries and attempted to replace Turoch by slaying and/or dominating his siblings after the battle

    During the Rebellion Mera…

    -Sheltered the bulk of the world’s souls so they’d survive the battle against Turoch.

    -Sheltered the bulk of Scarterra itself so it wouldn’t be destroyed.

    -Was the most minor participant fighting poorly and timidly.

    -Refused to engage Turoch violently at all, relying on her siblings to do the fighting.

    -Slept with the Traitor beforehand to prevent him/her from warning Turoch.

    During the Rebellion Phidas…

    -Was the last to join the Rebellion, only joining when he was sure all the others were doing so (the Traitor lied).

    -Took the most damage in the battle because he fought the most courageously.

    -Took the most damage in the battle because he fought with the least skill.

    -Took the most damage in the battle because Turoch was most personally mad at him.

    -Took the most damage in the battle because Zarthus left him high and dry.

    -Was the one who personally delivered the poisonous souls to Turoch

    -Feigned siding with the Turoch so as to be able to get into position to eliminate the Traitor who he knew all along wasn’t on their side.

    During the Rebellion Nami

    -Flipped a coin to see if she would fight Turoch or not.

    -Wavered between which side to take for a long time

    -Fought the most bravely because she cared little if she lived or died

    -Fought the most effectively because her strategies were unpredictable.

    -Fought the least effectively of the Nine because her strategies were irrational.

    -Discrediting the Traitor’s warning to Turoch accidentally by altering the battle plan

    -Deliberately misled the Traitor to make his/her information appear worthless

    -Threatened to side with Turoch unless the Compact was revised

    During the Rebellion Zarthus…

    -Came up with the plan for poisoning Turoch but not the method.

    -Took the Traitor out single-handedly.

    -Was nearly beaten by the Traitor before another sibling saved him.

    -Was formerly best friends/lovers with the Traitor.

    During the Rebellion the Traitor…

    -Planned to betray his/her siblings all along.

    -Joined Turoch mid-battle only after believing the cause was lost.

    -Actually did help take out Turoch, the Traitor only became a Traitor after the Rebellion when s/he tried a coup.

    -did not exist, there was no tenth servant of Turoch.

    -There was more than one deity who sided with Turoch.

    -not really a Traitor, s/he died battling Turoch and the Nine lied about it later to justify letting a sibling die.

    Greymoria’s Dominion is…

    -Partitioning out Scarterra’ mystical energy

    -Preventing Scarterra’ mystical energy from ripping the world into bits

    -Death

    Hallisan’s Dominion is…

    -The seasons, so as to put stability into the world’s cycles.

    -The responsibility of preventing Scarterra’ landmasses from sinking into the sea.

    -Making sure the element of Earth is in proper balance.

    Khemra’s Dominion is…

    -The movement of the sun everyday.

    -Warming Scarterra. She isn’t moving the sun, she is the sun.

    -Linear time.

    -Making sure the element of Fire is in proper balance.

    Korus’s Dominion is…

    -Managing the relationships that govern Scarterra’ ecosystems.

    -Managing Scarterra’ plants.

    -Managing Scarterra’ non-sentient animals.

    -Making sure all four elements are in proper balance.

    -Death.

    Maylar’s Dominion…

    -Decay and Disease and Renewal.

    -Decay and Renewal.

    -Decay.

    -Renewal.

    -Death.

    Mera’s Dominion is…

    -The seas.

    -All bodies of water.

    -All fresh water bodies.

    -Making sure the element of Water is in proper balance.

    Phidas’ Dominion is…

    -Maintaining the safeguards that prevent the Void from consuming Scarterra.

    -Karma.

    -Making sure the element of Earth is in proper balance.

    Nami’s Dominion is…

    -The weather.

    -Creating necessary chaos for the universe to function.

    -Karma.

    -Making sure the element of Fire is in proper balance.

    Zarthus Dominion is…

    -The moon and stars.

    -The moon.

    -All light.

    -Karma.

    -Making sure the element of Air is in proper balance.

    Greymoria’s Gift to mortals was…

    -Wizardry, so the dragons and clerics wouldn’t have a choke hold on magic

    -Wizardry, so as to try to make the clerics of the other Nine irrelevant.

    -Nothing, the mortals who forsook her deserve it.

    -the capacity for any controlled magic.

    Hallisan’s Gift to the mortals of Scarterra was…

    -Metalworking so as to make weapons to defend themselves against the Unmakings.

    -Metalworking to aid mortals in creating greater works.

    -the courage to overcome their fears.

    Khemra’s Gift to mortals was…

    -Writing, so no knowledge need be forgotten

    -Writing, so as to allow more complex and less varied laws.

    -their memories.

    Korus’ Gift to mortals was…

    -agriculture so they could learn to work with the land.

    -agriculture because he wanted them to have as much food as possible.

    -ability to adapt to new environments.

    Maylar’s Gift to the mortals of Scarterra was…

    -animal husbandry to teach them to advance themselves through killing.

    -animal husbandry, so they could test their mettle against lesser creatures and become stronger.

    -animal husbandry, so he could humiliate Korus

    -Weaponry, to make mortals more dangerous.

    -disease, he calls it a Gift to be ironic.

    -murder, he calls it a Gift because he believes only the strongest deserve to survive.

    -the capacity for anger.

    Mera’s Gift to the mortals of Scarterra was…

    -control of fire so mortals could be warm and safe

    -control of fire so as to tame its destructive aspects.

    -secrets to building boats, so they wouldn’t drown.

    -the ability to recover from injury.

    -the capacity for love.

    Phidas’ Gift to the mortals of Scarterra was…

    -the concept currency so they’d know the value of their work and what the Nine did for them.

    -the ability to keep vows.

    Nami’s Gift to the mortals of Scarterra was…

    -the concept of shelter, so they wouldn’t be destroyed by some of her more violent weathers.

    -the secrets of brewing alcohol, to liberate their minds.

    -free will.

    Zarthus’ Gift to the mortals of Scarterra was…

    -music, so mortals could alternatively celebrate and relax

    -art, so mortals could strive for more than mere survival.

    -a sense a humor.
     
    Last edited: Sep 6, 2015
  2. Scalenex
    Slann

    Scalenex Keeper of the Indexes Staff Member

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    Part Two: The Nine


    Phidas “The Masked One” “The Scarred Lord”“Great Deceiver”
    Alignment:
    Lawful Evil
    Favored Weapon: Dagger
    Most Common Symbol: A silver mask partially shadowed representing the mask Phidas himself is said to wear.
    Domains (not exhaustive): Earth, Evil, Law, Trickery
    Synopsis: Phidas believes in promoting order and rewards those who support order and punishes harshly those who do not. Nothing is worse in his eyes then violating a sworn oath or contract. He is commonly viewed as the father of money and trade. He maintains the safeguards that prevent the Void from consuming Scarterras. He gained his nickname of the Scarred Lord and association with masks from taking serious injuries to the face while fighting Turoch. Phidas believes that since he suffered the most fighting Tuorch he deserves the biggest share of Scarterras. It said that Turoch vowed revenge on Phidas above the others so Phidas and his followers tends to be on the forefront of efforts to battle demons and Turoch cultists.
    Priests and Primary Followers: Phidas’ priests tend to seek positions as kingmakers ingratiating themselves to leaders at every opportunity. They tend to have a place in most governments. A small number of nations have Phidas as the official state religion due to very successful efforts of Phidas’ priests over the years. Merchants and traders tend to worship Phidas primarily and this permeates to the general populace in areas with lots of trade. Some of the monstrous races worship Phidas primarily, particularly underground races.
    Common Times to Invoke his Name: Phidas’ name is often invoked when swearing oaths or signing contracts. Phidas is often prayed to before attempting a financial venture or battling demons.


    Khemra “The Blazing Eye” “Compact Forger” “The Sun Blinded”
    Alignment:
    Lawful Neutral
    Favored Weapon: Heavy Mace
    Most Common Symbol: A golden sun wreathed in orange and red flames with a purple eyeball in the middle.
    Domains (not exhaustive): Fire, Knowledge, Sun, Travel
    Synopsis: Khemra believes in creating ordered societies where everyone has a place and role in their society and everyone works together for collective benefit. She is very concerned with traditions and histories being forgotten. She taught mortals the first writing systems to help preserve knowledge and combat this forgetting. Khemra believes that only through the Compact she helped push were all the Nine able to put aside their differences and overthrow Turoch. She continues to try to enforce the tenets of the Compact over her siblings to make sure everyone still behaves today as they earlier agreed that they would. Depending on who you ask, either Khemra moves the sun across the sky every day or Khemra is the sun. The fact that the sun sets every night is a testament to her willingness to limit her own influence due to the provisions set forth by the Compact.
    Priests and Primary Followers: Khemra’s priests are so interested in good government they usually have at least an advisory role in most states. Khemra’s priests like to demonstrate that they are team players and generally don’t make power grabs. The exception is the theocratic nation of Khemarok where they rule directly (they still condescendingly invite other priests to join them). They are the primary state religion of the (Grey) Elven Empire and a handful of smaller nations. Khemra worship is broad elsewhere but does not permeate very deep into the lower classes of most places.
    Common Times to Invoke her Name: Khemra is often praised at dawn and/or dusk to thank her for the sun. Khemra is often prayed to before conducting research or a similar tasked based on writing or preserved lore in some way.

    Hallisan “The Just Crusader” “Great Craftsman” “‘Brave’ Sacrificer”
    Alignment:
    Lawful Good
    Favored Weapon: Battle Axe
    Most Common Symbol: Crisscrossed Axe and Shovel representing hard labor and the need to be vigilant at guarding the fruits of your hard labor.
    Domains (not exhaustive): Earth, Luck, Strength, War
    Synopsis: Hallisan promotes the value of hard work as the cornerstone of a good society. One must work hard and strive for excellence in all they do. He is the patron of metalworking and other skilled crafts. He also emphasizes the importance of vigilance in martial readiness to protect one’s home, family, and the fruits of one’s labor. He teaches that a fair just society is the best way to promote both honest hard work and martial readiness. He is said to be the primary shaper of new materials that enter Scarterras from the Core of Creation. Some say without his efforts the lands of Scarterras would all splinter apart.
    Priests and Primary Followers: Hallisan’s priests are recruited primarily from the non-inheriting children of nobility unless the local nobility is very tight with another priesthood in which case they tend to recruit their priests primarily from the children of professional soldiers. Feudal lords and professional soldiers alike want to appear to be brave and chivalrous even when they are not, so Hallisan is the primary religions of both these groups. Hallisan is the most common primary deity officially endorsed by human and demi-human nations. Hallisan is credited with spearheading the creation of Dwarfs and most Dwarfs worship Hallisan primarily as a result.
    Common Times to Invoke his Name: Hallisan is often prayed to before beginning a difficult work project or after its completion. Hallisan is often prayed to before entering battle and thanked afterwards for victory.

    Greymoria “Mother of Magic,” “Great Mutilator” “Mother of All Monsters”
    Alignment:
    Neutral Evil
    Favored Weapon: Scythe
    Most Common Symbol: Varies more often than any other holy symbol. Default to a skull.
    Domains (not exhaustive): Death, Luck, Magic, Water
    Synopsis: Greymoria is the goddess of arcane magic. She poisoned Turoch by feeding him poisoned souls, souls she personally horrifically mutilated. This has traditionally terrified the mortals of Scarterras who turned away from worshipping her despite how her horrific actions were conducted for the greater good. She routinely punishes mortals who she feels do not love her enough (the vast majority of mortals). Most of the races with relatively small populations were created by Greymoria, both so she could have worshippers who adore her properly and so she could have cats paws to punish the other mortals who forsake her. Many eventually forsake Greymoria, and they too then deserve punishment.
    Priests and Primary Followers: Greymoria priests rarely broadcast their priestly duties in most areas. Priests have the ability to induct apprentices largely as they fit. They work to encourage worship of Greymoria, punish those who fail to do so, and encourage the proliferation of arcane magic. Most people worship her the bare minimum, acknowledging her at the New Years festival and simply trying to avoid attracting her wrath the rest of the year. The Dark Elves, some arcane users, and a few monstrous races are among the few her worship her primarily.
    Common Times to Invoke her Name: Greymoria’s name is often invoked when cursing someone. Greymoria is often a counter to superstitions. If a mortal does something said to cause bad luck, it’s said that espouses love of Greymoria can counteract this.

    Korus “Divine Mediator” “Lord of Nature” “The Uncaring One”
    Alignment:
    Neutral
    Favored Weapon: Flail
    Common Symbol: Light enshrouded tree (though in places where trees are scarce you can see a light enshrouded cactus or kelp plant)
    Domains (not exhaustive): Air, Animal, Earth, Fire, Plant, Water
    Synopsis: Korus includes and all of Scarterras’ ecosystems under his domain. He is said to have taught mortals the first principles of agriculture. He also enjoys the unique position of none of the other Nine having a problem with him so he and his agents often serve as mediators in many conflicts great and small. In fact, without Korus as a mediator the Nine would not have been able to put aside their differences long enough to defeat Turoch. While less pushy in his agenda then his siblings, he nevertheless promotes sustainable and responsible use of nature’s bounty.
    Priests and Primary Followers: Most priests tend to either take a wilderness focus or an agriculture focus. The former are pretty reclusive and the latter tend to be active parts of their community. The two groups don’t mingle much but they get along fairly well when they do meet. Agricultural focused priest tend to accept oblates from their communities who start at a young age, while wilderness actively recruit somewhat older youth who they believe have the skill set and temperament to be good priests. Because pretty much everyone depends on living off the land to some extant, Korus is the most widely worshipped deity on Scarterras though relatively few people worship him primarily.
    Common Times to Invoke his Name: Korus is often prayed to during major agricultural undertakings and most places have a festival in his honor during harvest and planting times. Korus is also prayed to for protection when entering wilderness areas. Korus is often prayed to for patience when dealing with someone of extreme views.

    Mera “the All Mother,” “Fire Tamer” “The Soft One”
    Alignment:
    Good, Healing, Protection, Water
    Favored Weapon: Quarterstaff
    Symbol: A small latern or other Enclosed flame floating in on the water.
    Domains (not exhaustive): Healing, Luck, Protection, Water
    Synopsis: Mera loves all living beings and abhors violence. She provides healing and succor to those who need it when she can. She promotes strong close-knit communities as the best way to provide for the basic welfare of everyone. She promotes tolerance between all people, regardless of their differences. She manages the sea and helps mortals use it safely and derive sustenance from it. She is also said to have taught mortals to tame fire, providing the hearths for family’s to use a physical center to their home lives.
    Priests and Primary Followers: She is the most commonly worshiped deity by the peasant classes with a very large number of fairly modest temples. Most temples tend to identify themselves as Terrawan or Walchese. Two sects with different broad religious interpretations of Mera’s will. The two groups usually get along but they rely a lot of ritualized formalities. New priests are recruited primarily from their lower class flocks, usually offered into the priesthood’s service as young children.
    Common Times to Invoke her Name: Mera is commonly prayed to before leaving on a sea voyage. Mera is often prayed to for recovery from injury or illness. She is also prayed to for familial harmony, both in day-to-day and during major milestones likes births and weddings.

    Maylar “Last One Standing” “the Kindly One” “The Scourge”
    Alignment:
    Chaotic Evil
    Favored Weapon: Spear
    Common Symbol: A hand holding a blood soaked spear
    Domains (not exhaustive): Air, Animal, Destruction, War
    Synopsis: Maylar strongly believes that whatever does not kill mortals makes them stronger. If something does kill them they probably didn’t deserve to live anyway. With the death of the weak, the cycle is renewed and the strong benefit. Maylar believes strongly in testing mortals frequently to make them stronger. Maylar is said to be the ultimate origin of all diseases. Maylar promotes conflict between the various races and peoples, but also encourages mortals to succeed at physical challenges of other sorts. Many cultures claim Maylar was the father of hunting and animal husbandry.
    Priests and Primary Followers: The stereotypical Maylar priest is a chaplain to a violent marauding force. The most feared Maylar priests act as subversive agents serving to aggressively “test the strength” of populations that seem to have gotten soft. A growing number of relatively benign Maylar priests have cropped up in very harsh areas where they provide support to those whose hardiness meets their approval. Temples are rare and most priests are iterant. They are generally free to recruit whomever they wish and indoctrinate them as they fit. Those who survive by violence often worship Maylar primarily. Herders and hunters tend to worship Maylar often (along with other deities). Maylar is also commonly worshipped by those who view themselves as hardy and self sufficient.
    Common Times to Invoke his Name: Maylar is called the Kindly One because it is feared that by insulting him one invites disease. He is often prayed to for mercy from illness. His name is also invoked occasionally before beginning a physical challenge or after completion. It is said that if someone dedicates a difficult physical task to Maylar after completion that the person will be free of disease for at least a year if the deed meets his approval.

    Nami “The Inspired One” “The Passionate One” “The Storm Maker”
    Alignment:
    Chaotic Neutral
    Favored Weapon: Morningstar
    Common Symbol: Cloud that’s half stormy and half white and fluffy, optional rainbow and lightning bolt.
    Domains (not exhaustive): Air, Fire, Luck, Trickery
    Synopsis: Nami wants mortals to embrace their passions and embrace change. She charges her followers to expose hypocrisies whenever possible. She determines all weather altering it to fit her moods. She is believed to have a hand in any unusual events even those not tied to the weather as she wants to see how people (and her siblings) well react.
    Priests and Primary Followers: Very few mortals don’t worship Nami, but its fairly rare for Nami to be worshipped primarily. A few nomadic groups and scoundrel types sometimes worship her primarily. With very broad but not very deep worship, Nami’s priests are usually nomadic. Most cultures have festivals and holy days to Nami at different times of the year and it’s not uncommon for Nami’s priests to move on circuits specializing in presiding over those rituals and festivities. Others travel about doing Nami’s will in a less predictable fashion. Most temples are geared more around providing rest areas and bases for traveling priests than to administering flocks. Priests are allowed to recruit whomever they want as apprentices and train them pretty much as they see fit.
    Common Times to Invoke her Name: Nami is most frequently praised before begin a revel. She is sometimes asked or thanked for favorable weather but the common belief is that she is largely un-swayed by prayers in that regard and does whatever she feels like most of the time.

    Zarthus “Righteous Avenger” “Light Bringer” “Constant Rebel”
    Alignment:
    Chaotic Good
    Favored Weapon: Rapier
    Common Symbol: Crescent Moon around an eye
    Domains (not exhaustive): Air, Luck, Strength, Travel
    Synopsis: Zarthus believes that mortals should work hard to provide for themselves and their families but shouldn’t let work consume them. He is said to have gifted mortals with music and art to help them to enjoy the fruits of their labor. Zarthus promotes self-sufficiency. He believes that mortals can both work harder and express them when not constrained by tyrants, well meaning or otherwise. Zarthus put the moon in the sky to light up the darkness and expects his followers to cast lights into the darkness and expose hidden evils so they can be removed. In addition for seeking out hidden evils, he encourages mortals to seek out hidden beauty and wonder.
    Priests and Primary Followers: A few isolated small population areas worship Zarthus primarily. In more populated areas is the primary patron of artists and those who resist oppression. Zarthus has become a sort of patron for half-breeds and Zarthus worship is the state religion of the small Half-Elf nation of Apseldia. Zarthus priests can induct whomever they wish as long as they have two skillsets that can help further Zarthus goals and they know the most rudimentary rights. Other priesthoods accuse Zarthus’ priesthood of giving out honorary priest titles away like candy. Zarthus has among the highest proportion of priests who can’t cast divine spells and a large number of priests relative to their small flock.
    Common Times to Invoke his Name: Zarthus is commonly invoked before attempting an artistic endeavor or doing a difficult but necessary task alone. He is commonly prayed to for safety when traveling at night. He is often prayed to for deliverance from oppression.


    Relations between the Nine

    There is debate between some theologians whether the Nine follow trends in the actions of their Churches. When two of the Nine are getting along especially well, their respective Churches tend to get along well. There is much speculation on whether Churches follow their gods or gods follow their churches on this.

    Most say that Churches and deities both influence each other. A small minority states that there is no direct link between how the Nine interact and how their followers interact and that any supposed connection between the two is done by revisionist historians.

    As far as anyone knows, the Nine have not literally come to blows on anything yet. They fight with mortal and spirit proxies. Some speculate that they are physically incapable of harming each other directly. Others say that all of them are too risk averse to put their immortal existences on the line. Others say they don’t want to risk the cosmic imbalance killing one of the Nine would cause. Some say that the Nine hold some fratricidal ambitions, but they are merely waiting for an opportune moment. In any event, conflict between the Nine all occurs on the mortal planes, using their flocks to fight proxy battles, especially their clerics and other spellcasters.

    All of the Nine are the opposite sex of each of their siblings only one step removed from them, those they usually get along with best. While they are all siblings on some level, like the Greek Olympians, that’s no barrier to them getting married (usually specified for a certain number of centuries) or having flings (of unspecified duration, usually burning out in less than a century).

    This leads to obvious question of whether or not they can have kids. I’m not sure yet. Nor am I sure what form their “children” would take. It could be a minor deity. Maybe a powerful spirit. They could create and abstract concept or the forerunner of a new race.

    I did my best to come up with reasons for the nine sibling deities I created to have reasons to like and dislike each other beyond alignment differences which would seem a little hack to me. If you don’t want to read my lengthy descriptions on their interactions, I have an abbreviated opinion section at the start of each diety. They are listed in order of preference. In order to keep with my original premise of fitting strongly into the alignment system of D&D, it just so happens that their favorite siblings are the ones of their similar aligned siblings and their arch rivals are the ones with diametrically opposed alignments. The Nine deities have reasons to like/hate what their siblings do, not what they are, so alignments are not directly responsible.


    Phidas’ views on the others

    Khemra: She is the second most capable among us to lead.

    Greymoria: She’d be a better ally if she didn’t create monsters periodically out of her spite alone.

    Korus: He does his job and stays out of my way.

    Hallisan: His gift is a personal insult, I used silver ore to create and maintain the barrier. By teaching metalworking he as partially usurped my dominion. He had no right to offer my bounty as his own.

    Maylar: A fine weapon to turn on my enemies, but his destructive urges need to be kept in check, lest he slip the leash destroy everything I’ve built.

    Nami: She is not as unpredictable as she’d like to be: she is predictably annoying.

    Mera: She opposes me often, but she isn’t proactive enough to be a real threat to my designs

    Zarthus: While I am unfairly undervalued, the others at least acknowledge my sacrifice to some degree. He opposes me at every opportunity. If it were not for me our brilliant ploy against Turoch would have failed. He won’t even acknowledge this.

    It’s no contest that Phidas likes Khemra best. If he is capable of being genuinely fond of anyone it’s her. He depends on her enforcement of the Compact and her promotion of Law as a greater principle daily. Phidas is fully aware that were he lose her support, the Good aligned siblings could regulate his worship to the status of a fringe religion just like they did with Maylar and Greymoria. While he wants total control over the world, a suitable consolation prize would be a permanent marriage to Khemra and having the pair of them be the monarchs of a Lawful oriented creation. Each temporary marriage ends badly with the pair growing sick of each other, with the result being after the marriage, Khemra stands aside and lets Hallisan, Mera, and even Zarthus knock his holdings on the material plane down several pegs. The last time they were married they managed to get their respective Church’s to work together long enough to spearhead the establishment of a worldwide currency (a standard weight for coins and a locked in exchange rate of 1 gp = 10 sp = 100 cp). There next theoretically cooperative effort is to establish a “Common” language for all sentient creatures, but it is unpopular as Esperanto in the real world. When Phidas and Khremra are getting along, the contrast between night and day seems more extreme and the denizens of the Underdark far less bold.

    Despite Phidas’ frequent courting of Khemra, Greymoria is Phidas’ most common lover. Phidas doesn’t genuinely like Greymoria. He values her as a tool, fully aware that she feels the same way towards him. Notable cooperative efforts ended up with the creation of Beholders, two-pronged attacks against Good aligned temples, and unusually high levels of cooperation between disparate races of evil monsters. The most impressive feat they accomplished together was the creation of the first breed of thaumnivorous fungus (fa ungus that feeds on ambient magical energy rather than decaying organic matter). This has let underground ecosystems relatively independent of the life above ground, thus changing the underground into the true Underdark, a realm that stands on its own. When Phidas and Greymoria are getting along, earthquakes are more common and less predictable and the denizens of the Underdark are numerous and bold.

    Phidas has little dealings with Korus. When truly desperate, Phidas will turn to Korus for succor when hard pressed by his good aligned siblings but the two gods pay each other little heed most of the time. Phidas and Hallisan don’t clash swords too often. Phidas has never forgiven Hallisan for teaching the mortals mining, something Phidas views as an encroachment upon his dominion though his anger at this has cooled over time. Phidas is content to merely make things difficult for Lawful Good Dwarves. When the Dwarves are dealing with threats on multiple fronts and Lawful Good bureaucrats are “cleaning up” their governments, one knows that Phidas and Hallisan are ticked at each other. Phidas has eventually come to the conclusion that Maylar is smarter than he’s given credit for, most of Phidas’ attempts to manipulate Maylar backfire. Phidas avoids Maylar as much as he can and is normally moderately successful at keeping Hallisan in between them.

    Phidas hates Zarthus and they are always undermining each other. There are no special signs visible when they fight because conflict between the two of them is business as usual. Tyrants crush dissenters and oppression leads to rebellion. Phidas’s rivalry with Nami and Mera ebbs and flows depending on how well the two goddesses are getting along with Zarthus at the moment.


    Khemra Views on the others

    Hallisan: A noble ally close to my heart, if only he didn’t stir up trouble with our siblings so often.

    Phidas: He stays to his appointed role better than all but myself, but there was no provision in our compact to give him extra dominion as recompense for the wounds he suffered, so he should stop asking for them.

    Korus: He does a good job keeping the others from killing each other, but if he was just slightly more proactive, he’d be able to end half of the conflicts before they begin.

    Mera: She stays to her dominions and causes little trouble with one exception—her Gift to humanity was overstepping her bounds. She was given the generous dominion over water, and yet she chose to teach mortals how to control fire. If she were anyone else, I would think that a power play.

    Greymoria: You lash out against all eight of us claiming we turned the mortals against you. If Nami didn’t give her gift to mortals it wouldn’t be an issue. That the mortals chose us over you is no one else’s fault besides Nami, or perhaps your own.

    Zarthus: If the system is broken, breaking it further won’t help anyone.

    Maylar: It may have been a mistake to give him dominion over death and decay. But as agreed, we all contributed and we all gained a dominion. Besides, he could turn any dominion given to him into a weapon, one need only see what Gift he gave to the mortals. At least this way his moves are predictable.

    Nami: If everyone stayed with our plan, it would not have been broken to the point it needed to be replaced. She randomizes everything because she secretly hates us all.


    Khemra tries not to play favorites with Hallisan and Phidas, both of whom she depends on for maintaining the Compact as much as possible in the wake of mortals receiving free will. Every marriage to Phidas is balanced by one of equal duration to Hallisan, though her marriages to Hallisan usually end with less resentment built up. When Hallisan and Khemra are getting along, Summers are hotter and Winters more mild. There latest cooperative effort was establishing a set of rules and protocols for military conflict though it hasn’t caught on everywhere. Khemra has been with Korus as much as either Hallistan or Phidas but that’s often forgotten because those periods of marriage are often very uneventful save that Korus’ other paramours are more hostile to Khemra.

    Apart from Mera choosing to give the mortals a Gift that has nothing to do with her dominion (and everything to do with Khemra’s), it’s Mera’s constant battles with Greymoria that bother Khemra and she mostly blames Greymoria as the instigator. Khemra believes that it’s mostly Greymoria’s fault but she feels that it’s wrong to hold a grudge against her for her contribution to the Rebellion which Khemra believes firmly that both of her sisters’ contributions were necessary. Greymoria’s horrible sacrifice of a few benefited the greater whole. Khemra dislikes Greymoria’s attempts to assault civilization but this is tempered with Greymoria establishing wizardry in the mortal world. Khemra much prefers organized studious wizards over random sorcerers and witches.

    Aware of his good intentions, Khemra is not very patient with Zarthus inciting so many mortals to lash out against established rulers. Khemra only appreciates art when it serves to strengthen the image of established rulers. The moral high ground he takes makes it harder for Khemra to oppose Zarthus without looking like a tyrant. It is said that eclipses occur when Zarthus and Khemra are especially at odds (the sun and moon in conflict). Fully aware of Maylar’s ultimate intentions, Khemra gives the greater part of her wrath to Maylar, believing Maylar might try to destroy all of Scarterra if pushed hard enough. One need watch outbreaks of disease and amassing of the Chaotic monsters and tribes assailing cities to see how their relationship is progressing. Khemra dislikes Nami most of all. Though Nami has done little against her lately, Khemra firmly believes that her contribution during the Rebellion was useless. Without Nami, there would be no issue of conflict at all from Zarthus, Maylar or anyone else if mortals were not given free will.


    Halisan’s views on the Other

    Mera: Without her healing and nurturing touch, all our charges would lead miserable lives. If she stood up against our darker siblings more, none of our charges would lead miserable lives.

    Khemra: Without her there would be nothing left after our rebellion, though she can be rather cold for one who controls the sun.

    Korus: He never really bothers me or helps me, though I should give him credit for maintaining the natural world on which all our charges depend.

    Zarthus: He is almost as good at me at finding and defeating threats to our charges. He is not nearly so good at preventing threats in the first place.

    Phidas: You agreed to the Compact, so you should stop whining about your wounds and wear your scars with pride. If you want extra dominion, earn it by helping our charges, not through hoarding and scheming.

    Nami: Where Gremoyria is dangerous for her malice, Nami is dangerous for her careless disregard for everything we’ve built.

    Greymoria: However necessary her contribution to the cause may be, she proved herself to be a monster, just like all her wretched spawn.

    Maylar: He is no better than the despot we overthrew save that he is less bold and more easily defeated.


    Though he is loath to admit it, Halisan truly loves Mera. She is the symbol of what he fights for. She doesn’t reciprocate his love fully as she is slightly appalled at his contribution to the Rebellion (his sacrifice of souls in battle was almost as appalling to her as Greymoria’s via torture). She isnot convinced that his proactive militant stance against Evil is the best way to help their charges. Affairs of the heart notwithstanding, Hallisan gets along best with Khemra and certainly better with her than Phidas does as alluded to above.

    Halisan and Korus get along okay. The ecosystems don’t really do anything Hallisan disapproves of. Halisan’s relationship with Phidas is complex to say the least. Both oppose and compromise with each other often. It galls him that he ever has to compromise with someone so dishonorable, but he is completely confident that should Phidas ever make a bid for the extra power he feels he is owed, Hallisan is capable of defeating Phidas in combat with little difficulty. He is equally confident that most of his siblings will also oppose Phidas with him, so he is not concerned. While far from naïve in this belief, Halisan believes that Phidas, alone of the Evil deities, is redeemable. To some extant there is rivalry between Phidas and Halisan for Khemra’s affections too. Because both their attraction to her is more pragmatic than romantic, it’s not too heated.

    Both Zarthus and Hallisan believe in a strong work ethic and a proactive approach against evil. Both are in love with Mera and rarely manage to impress her. In fact, Halisan’s relationship with Zarthus can be characterized almost exclusively by their shared feelings for Mera. It’s not uncommon to see clerics and/or paladins of both Zarthus’ and Hallisan’s temples arrive to join forces against a threat to one of Mera’s flocks and then each subtly try to take most of the credit for the rescue.

    Halisan thinks of Nami as an unruly child playing with dangerous tools beyond her ken. He also knows if he tries to restrain her behavior, she’ll takes it as a challenge and moves from incidentally bothering him to deliberately bothering him. When they butt heads, expect extended bouts of unseasonable weather.

    Halisan hates Greymoria. While he has come to accept that Good people can wield arcane magic and reluctantly accepting of her contribution to the Rebellion, he hates the scores of monsters she has created, and the undead most of all. Also Greymoria has deliberately set herself against Mera, and that is unforgivable. Personal feelings aside, Maylar disgusts him on all possible levels, and Halisan believes that Maylar has a chance (however small) of usurping Turoch’s old role. Were he not afraid for the damage it would do the universal order, Halisan would slay Maylar if he could. Instead Halisan holds his own personal pipe dream of imprisoning Maylar for all he eternity. He believes that if this could be accomplished, Greymoria could be similarly constrained and then Phidas would fall into line and be more like Khemra and they would become a more or less permanent couple. At which point Mera would realize that Halisan’s methods were right along and they would be married for eternity. Even gods can dream.


    Greymoria’s Views on the Others

    Korus: My favorite sibling, not only does he not scorn me but he is remarkably adaptable at changing his ecosystems to accommodate my children.

    Phidas: Your contribution to the rebellion was below only mine. If you feel you were treated unfairly for having no extra worshipers and a partially usurped dominion, imagine how I feel. Your followers at least can display your temples openly.

    Maylar: As enthralling as his passion can be, few can be both reckless and cowardly at the same time. I cannot only abide that for more than a short while before I feel inclined to leave his company.

    Khemra: I prefer acting after the sun sets down, and she allows me to do so every day.

    Nami: Too random to be useful or be a threat; too powerful to ignore altogether.

    Zarthus: Against your designs, I will crush you with brute force. If every one of your followers is free and independent, then each one is isolated and alone.

    Hallisan: Against your designs, I will fight you with subtlety and patience. Without my gift to mortals, your followers’ crusades against my children would not be a fraction as successful. Accepting wizards into their ranks has seeded their eventual demise.

    Mera: You miss the forest for the trees with regards to our charges who you’ve adopted as your very own children. I do not value my children as individuals. My losses inconvenience me, your hurts you personally. Thus, in the long run I have already won.


    On some level Greymoria hates all her siblings, or so it is claimed. Presumably because she is jealous about her small number of worshippers, but other reasons have been speculated. In any event, she very rarely crosses swords with Korus and often does her best to get along with him. Some speculate that she is friendly with Korus in order to keep his affections away from her sisters. When Greymoria and Korus are married or having a fling, expect the creation and or mutation of new monsters, especially of the Magical Beast subtype. On the rare occasions when they are at odds, expect extinctions of species, especially those with the Magical Beast subtype.

    Greymoria is viewed as the most flirtatious of all the female Nine if not the most promiscuous. She is often simultaneously juggling with the affections of Phidas and Maylar. Greymoria is less offended by Phidas than the others because while his flock is large, he at least is suffering as a result of his actions in the Rebellion, giving them as close as possible to an empathetic bond as two horribly vile beings can have. As alluded to before when Greymoria and Phidas are getting along, the Underdark is their playground. When they aren’t getting along, expect the Phidas priesthood to lead inquisitions against warlocks and Greymorian cults. Then expect monstrous incursions against Phidas’ faithful. Likewise, Greymoria has relatively little beef with Maylar, as Maylar’s flock isn’t much bigger than hers. To see how Maylar and Greymoria are getting along, check out how much arcane power Chaotic Evil aligned monsters possess and how tolerant they are of arcane forces in their midst. They both take turns experimenting with the Black Water Wastes.

    Greymoria doesn’t appreciate Khemra being even nominally in charge of her but Greymoria appreciates the level of protection she receives from her Good aligned siblings afforded by the Compact. Greymoria stays out Khemra’s way most of the time. While she takes pot shots at civilization often, this is more to punish mortals than to thumb her nose at her sister. Greymoria tries to stay out of Nami’s way even more aware that if unprovoked, chances are she’ll ignore Greymoria and bother someone else, perhaps someone Greymoria has a real beef with.

    Mera’s got a large flock because most mortals view her as benevolent protector. Greymoria has a small flock because most mortals view her as a butcher. For this reason beyond all others Greymoria thus despises Mera. Mera has dominion over water so Greymoria works with water as much as possible to corrupt it; some say she invented drowning. Whenever Mera seems interested in Korus is when Greymoria tries her hardest to seduce Korus. Her numerous corrupted children, especially undead are poised to strike at Mera’s communities whenever possible. Because they love Mera, Greymoria despises Hallisan and Zarthus. Like many, Greymoria has nothing but contempt for Mera’s often pacifistic stance. Greymoria believes (much as Hallisan and Zarthus secretly do) that Mera would be defenseless without them. Thus, while Greymoria attacks Mera’s interests at every opportunity, most of her organized actions (especially those schemes involving Maylar or Phidas) are directed against Hallisan and Zarthus.


    Korus on the Others

    Khemra: Without her, we’d have been consumed by our creator and unable to have our own creations to enjoy.

    Nami: Without her, creation would be completely predictable to the point that it’s self-regulating, and I would have nothing at all to do.

    Mera: She takes responsibility for our charges a little too seriously, but I can’t fault her for this too much since the emotional damage she suffers will not affect me.

    Greymoria: She gave mortals wizardry so that they may someday not need us. If she gets her wish she’ll probably suffer more than the rest of us. She ceded more of her power to mortals than any of us, yet she blames others for her not being relevant to them. She only hurts herself.

    Zarthus: He focuses on abstract things too often, but I can’t fault him for this too much for it does no harm even if it does no good.

    Hallisan: I do not approve of the way some mortals have used his Gift to harm the natural world, though I can’t fault him too much since nature heals itself quick enough.

    Maylar: Constant failure must hurt, he would destroy everything if he could. No one else wants this so the others always stop him. On the bright side, each of his failed attempts cause enough “damage” to let me renew parts of the world.

    Phidas: I’m aware that you took the most severe wounds, brother, but there is nothing I can do about it, and I am not obligated to try.


    On some level, Korus is a true ladies’ man. He is only one step removed from all female deities so is able to have romantic relations with all of them. Not possessing a huge carnal appetite, he rarely plays the field so to speak and when he does he tries to rotate between his four paramours so as not to stoke their rivalries any further. He appreciates the contributions of all his siblings during the Rebellion and managing the world he believes all were and are necessary for the world, while all the Nine hate the unnamed Tenth diety who sided with Turoch, he’s the only one to truly lament the Traitor’s defection, believing that the world could be immeasurably greater if the Tenth aided in the creation of the world. Because he values all his siblings, much of his interactions with his siblings involve conflict mediation.

    Khemra is valued for creating the structure that allows the Nine to cooperate though he occasionally views her as being too restrictive causing needless resentment among their Chaotic siblings. Nami is valued for acting as the necessary agent of change to let creation continue, but Korus wishes she sometimes wouldn’t go out of her way to get their siblings riled up just for fun. Mera is valued for her nurturing spirit though Korus wishes she could realize more often that death is apart of life. Korus is a strong believer that suffering occasionally allows one to enjoy pleasure more and that there could be no good without evil. Speaking of which, while Korus is not happy with Greymoria’s constant attacks against the others’ flocks, but he values her contribution to the Rebellion above all the others. Korus also believes that Greymoria’s antisocial actions are hurting herself more than anyone else, so Korus rarely moves against her, believing that Greymoria will come around and be less disruptive once she realizes how she’s not helping her own cause.

    Korus believes that the first four mentioned siblings positive traits and contributions outweigh their negative traits and contributions by a small margin, he believes the other fours negatives outweigh their positives by a small margin. He dislikes the conflict they create by having their extreme viewpoints. Korus is bothered more by the Evil ones since the Good ones at least act with good intentions as opposed for selfishness. Zarthus bothers him the least because he only makes waves when he views injustice. This is often, but he’s not constantly at war with the Lawful and Evil siblings. When Zarthus’ flocks don’t have an injustice to fight they working on artistic endeavors or simply their own prosperity. Hallisan is more proactive, his flocks more militant. When Hallisan’s flocks are not battling the forces of Evil, they are often drilling for their next crusade. Of the two Evil extremist siblings, Phidas bothers Korus less because his wounds make his actions slightly more justified and Phidas’ schemes are less destructive than Maylar’s. Phidas bothers Korus more because Phidas seems more likely to do lasting damage due to the comparative success of his flock. If any sibling seems on the verge of an irreversible advantage over another Korus will intervene. Otherwise Korus rarely is at odds with the others though Mera, Korus, Greymoria, and even on rare occasions Nami have gotten Korus to step in over smaller issues, such as once a century peaks in conflict. When Korus is getting along well with his siblings, their traits are less extreme, the reverse is true when they aren’t getting along, but the differences are subtle either way.


    Mera on the Others

    Korus: Without his contribution to the rebellion and his efficient running of his dominion, there wouldn’t be a place for good mortals. I suppose there wouldn’t be a place for evil mortals either, but I am willing to accept that as the price that must be paid.

    Zarthus: He does the right things for the right reasons but has his priorities skewed. Freedom and free expression should be pursued after one’s physical wellbeing (and those of their neighbors) are seen to first.

    Hallisan: He does the right things for the wrong reasons. He fights evil beings to punish the guilty rather than to prevent evil from doing additional harm.

    Nami: When given a choice, most people will choose good over evil. With your Gift to mortals, they have the potential to deny our darker siblings and for this I am ever grateful. For your random and often destructive whims, I am long suffering.

    Khemra: Without the sun, life couldn’t exist. Without her leadership, the Rebellion would have failed. Without her Compact being so concerned with equality between the Nine, our darker siblings wouldn’t have the free reign they do today.

    Phidas: If you want more respect and power, you can earn it by seeing to the welfare of our mortal charges as opposed to scheming and demanding.

    Maylar: He lashes out where he should be helping us.

    Greymoria: I will always be there to stop you, sister.


    Mera has a mixed relationship with her closest allies and potential lovers. Mera believes whole-heartedly that nonviolence is the best way to serve the common good. Her belief in this isn’t unshakable (for instance she doesn’t prohibit her flock or even clerics and favored souls from using violence against evil), otherwise she never would have sided with the Rebellion. She has had second thoughts about the Rebellion believing that they could have beaten Turoch without sacrificing any souls if they just refused to deliver their tribute outright and waited long enough for Turoch to starve into weakness without being poisoned. That preamble being said, it is clear why Mera gets along with Korus best. Even though Mera values Goodness highly, she appreciates Korus’ non-intrusive non-conflict driven nature and values Korus’ management of the natural world more so. When she and Korus are getting along well, the wilderness is less threatening. She appreciates the help given by Zarthus and Hallisan defending her and Goodness itself, but neither are willing to give peace a chance as it were, so the conflict between the Nine continues. When Mera is getting along particularly well with Zarthus and Hallisan the tactics of all the forces of Good seems to shift towards Law or Chaos, that and stories of noble self-sacrifice are more common.

    Mera feels roughly the same way for Khemra and Nami. Both did things long ago that Mera is exceedingly grateful for even today, while all the Nine contributed to the Rebellion, Khemra established the Compact which assured that there was a way to rebuild the world. While all gave gifts to benefit mortals in some way, Nami gave the mortals the chance to willfully deny Evil. Neither has done anything particularly endearing to Mera lately. Khemra props up a cold system that doesn’t take Good or Evil into account, only order. Nami has much potential to help mortals with her weather but instance she does harm often, simply because she doesn’t care enough to control her powers, or at least that’s how Mera sees it.

    Mera suffers as Creation suffers under the attacks of the three evil deities. The main purpose of her often but not consistently pacifistic stances is that she believes that if the world was inoculated with enough love, the evil deities wouldn’t be able to get so much as a toe-hold on the mortals of the world. Phidas props up massive systems of oppressive control and Maylar leaves behind the largest body count of innocents, but Greymoria is the most despised. Greymoria’s contribution to the Rebellion was both unnecessary and unjustified. Greymoria continues her warping souls to this day creating the most depraved monsters and mutilating the souls of the innocent. Thus, Maylar and Phidas threaten life on physical level by either destroying or dominating life, but Greymoria threatens the life’s spirit. That and Greymoria attacks Mera more relentlessly than any of the other Nine pursue their rivalries, its only makes sense that when Mera strays from her pacifist tactics occasionally, she does so to strike at Greymoria’s interests.


    Maylar on the Others

    Nami: Randomness destabilizes and destroys. Weather kills indiscriminately, second only to disease and strife. My sister’s weather serves to further test the mortals of this world. My sister serves to further test my own strength.

    Greymoria: I was opposed to his Gift to mortals as most were—at first. Arcane magic is just one more way to potentially show strength over others and magical resources are one more resource to compete over.

    Korus: He at least realizes how life and death work. All but the plants must kill to survive, and he does not hide from this essential fact.

    Phidas: He won’t stop whining about his battle wounds but at least he realizes that to get power, you must seize it. He just chooses a circuitously inefficient and ultimately failed way to seize it.

    Zarthus: You can make art and sing, but I will paint the land with your blood and listen to the music of your screams.

    Mera: The only reason I don’t hate you most of all is because you are so weak and non-threatening. Once your protectors are gone, your suffering will be long indeed.

    Khemra: I didn’t agree to your Compact, and if you reflected back you’ll realize that the others only pretended to agree with it out of fear of Turoch. Turoch is dead so any use your Compact may have once had is now gone.

    Hallisan: You call me the coward when you fought hiding behind a horde of ultimately expendable souls at your side. You call me a destroyer when you create systems to coddle the weak and shackle the strong.

    Maylar wants to be the only one of the Nine standing ruling over all the mortals with total power though whether through love or a perverse mockery of love, Maylar isn’t planning to kill Nami, simply make her his subordinate bride. Over the centuries Maylar has revised his ultimate end vision to rule with her by his side, just barely below his level of power—even gods get lonely. Also, he thinks a worthy war bride would keep him from growing complacent like Turoch did. Current relations with Nami are like the violent weather they spawn, brief, devastatingly powerful, over quickly, forgotten slowly. Maylar spends more time with Greymoria, though their relationship is based on pragmatism, they both oppose each other but hate their mutual enemies far more. Maylar distrusts her a lot though. Unlike Nami, Maylar is only willing to let her live in future utopia of him ruling the universe if he can subjugate her completely.

    Maylar leaves Korus alone as much as possible. He will periodically send his minions against Korus’ interest but this are usually just ruses, or tests as he prefers to call them. It’s mostly to throw his other siblings away from his true plans. He wants to appear as a random destroyer rather than a calculated plotter. Maylar is smart enough to appreciate what can be gained by looking dumb. Maylar has enough dedicated enemies among the Nine that getting Korus against him too would tilt the tables against him more than he could handle. Maylar knows that Korus wants to keep all eight of his siblings in balance and Maylar is aware that when (not if) he is poised to eliminate his Good aligned siblings, Korus will step in to intervene. But until that time comes around, Maylar isn’t picking a fight with him.

    Maylar is also neutral as much as possible with regards to Phidas though he is given less leeway than Korus by far. Maylar recognizes that Phidas has plans for power and is a potential threat, but Maylar doesn’t believe Phidas can possibly succeed. That and Phidas’s schemes do a good job keep the others’ attentions away from him (though Phidas uses Maylar much the same way). Sometimes Maylar will attack Phidas’ interests while attacking another sibling’s. While few of the Nine tolerate this, most decisions are delegated to their mortal followers, and more than a few clerics hate Phidas enough they are willing to accept a three or four of their flock dying if it means ten or twenty of Phidas’ flock goes down (or one Phidas cleric). Sometimes, Maylar goes after Phidas’ holdings just to keep his power in check, or simply because they are looking vulnerable and just asking for it.

    Getting even less leeway is Zarthus, the two clash often. Neither Maylar nor Zarthus believe the other is capable of defeating them once and for all, but they oppose each other whenever they don’t have much better to do. In one sense, Zarthus is the most dangerous to Maylar, because Zarthus, of all the Nine is the most proactive of Maylar’s opponents, anticipating his moves and often attack first rather than having his faithful baton down the hatches and merely prepare defense against Maylar’s flocks.

    Maylar hates everything Mera stands for, but he doesn’t fear her due to her extremely peaceful ways. He believes that she is completely dependent on Zarthus and Hallisan for her continued survival. Maylar is planning on killing most of the other Nine quickly to remove their threat but he’s planning to kill Mera slowly and painfully, or so his followers claim. To thwart Mera’s goals of rehabilitating all evil, Maylar encourages his followers to slay any reformed evil doer, even those who were once Lawful Evil, suggesting that Maylar may indeed secretly fear the end result of a world so steeped in love and mercy that Evil has no foothold.

    Many of the Nine hold back on plans of killing their siblings because they believe that they would throw off the balance of the world irreparably. Maylar is counting on this. While Maylar isn’t afraid to deviate from his far reaching moderately vague plan of universal domination, Maylar is planning to eliminate Khemra first. He believes that would cause the rule of Law to collapse creating an anarchy on the material realm that his faithful mortals will thrive in. Also, the last remnants of the Compact would be gone and all the Nine would revert to their simmering rivalries unable to form a unified front against him, or so Maylar is hoping. Hallisan is of course still the most hated of the Nine. He stands for everything Maylar doesn’t, save that they both respect strength and martial prowess, thus Hallisan is the greatest threat in Maylar’s eyes. Maylar just believes that Hallisan will be easier to defeat once Khemra is destroyed or at least weakened enough to no longer be a threat.


    Nami on the Others

    Zarthus: You show the mortals why they shouldn’t get stuck in a rut, and you remain as adaptable now as when you were when you defeated our traitorous sibling during the Rebellion.

    Maylar: You challenge the assumptions the others hold that the world and our charges have a right to exist. I’d prefer they do exist, I just don’t take it for granted.

    Korus: He does a good job keeping ecosystems in motion and adapting, but without the others’ actions to try to destabilize it, nature would be far more boring.

    Mera: You can look after the mortals if you want, I won’t try to stop you.

    Greymoria: You can corrupt and mutate mortals if you want, I won’t try to stop you.

    Phidas: No I won’t give you additional control, you say you deserve more but you haven’t specified how much more you deserve. Just admit you want total control, you don’t need an excuse every step of the way. It is amusing to watch the others nervously watch your activity despite your constant failures.

    Hallisan: Your attempts to promote valor and honor are just another system of meaningless and stifling control.

    Khemra: Better to live a short existence before being consumed by Turoch then to spend an eternity in the stagnant prison you’d create if we didn’t force you to compromise with the other eight of us.


    Nami values change and adaptability above all else. She likes Zarthus who espouses both of these often, though she cares little for his noble reasons for doing so, she mildly prefers them over Maylar’s selfish reasons for doing so. Nami is pretty easy going. She operates under the assumption that no one of the Nine can impose their will over the world whole cloth, because one or more likely several others will oppose them. This, coupled with her desire for things to stay “interesting” means she’s surprisingly tolerant of Maylar and his psychopathic ambitions. If there wasn’t an outside chance of creation going into the proverbial toilet, mortals and gods wouldn’t appreciate it as much as they do. They certainly wouldn’t invest as much in maintaining it. Along those lines, No one is better at maintaining the natural order of the universe or keeping conflict from destroying the world than Korus. Also, Korus is generally likeable and on pretty good terms with everyone, Nami doesn’t flout the conventions of her other siblings on everything, still it’s unwise to assume that the plant and animal kingdoms and the forces of weather get along in perfect harmony all the time.

    Nami is pretty indifferent to Mera and Greymoria. On some level they are romantic rivals for the attentions of Korus and either Zarthus or Maylar respectively but Nami rarely pursues relationships long enough to get worked up about this. She is also relatively indifferent to Mera’s efforts to protect mortals as a whole or Greymoria’s efforts to punish them though Nami can and does step up to prevent them from intervening with her own faithful followers which on her holy days include most of the population in Nami’s eyes. Naturally unleashing undead on her followers is looked poorly on, but Mera’s attempts to moralize her festival’s revels can be nearly as grating to Nami.

    Nami’s feelings towards Phidas can be summed up in two words: “mocking derision.” Despite his being Lawful, Nami isn’t particularly threatened by Phidas. Nami does not believe Phidas is apt to succeed in his scheming and finds it comical that Phidas tries to spin his battle wounds into a reason why he should legitimately hold more power. Yeah, that works, “Other people fight better than me, so I am their superior!” Hallisan is different. They come to loggerheads every time Nami wants to have a little creative license with the weather. Brief heat waves in the winter, rare Summer snow falls and the like are often the result or the cause of spats between them. That and Nami is aware of the fact that Hallisan’s dogma appeals to wider base than Phidas and the zealousness that comes with him is often more constricting than the greed that comes with Phidas. As mentioned before, Nami is indifferent to most deific struggles because she knows that someone will oppose any one’s attempt at control. Ergo, Nami takes her responsibility of keeping Khemra from creating a stultifying world order free of choice very seriously, often ignoring the fact that Khemra is one of the few of the Nine without ambitions of seriously changing the existing order of the universe. Even if Khemra isn’t actively pursuing a PERFECTLY ordered world, Nami is sure that Khemra still dreams about it.

    Zarthus Takes on the Others

    Mera: Yours was the most important contribution during the rebellion.

    Nami: I like you having you around if for no other reason than how much you irritate some of our siblings.

    Korus: How can anyone say anything bad about the one of us that has avoided pissing off anyone despite his managing the most complicated dominion of all? How can anyone say anything good about someone who never takes risks?

    Hallisan: Good intentions don’t always lead to good results. It wasn’t particularly noble of you to lead so many souls to their ultimate destruction, however glorious their ultimate destruction was.

    Maylar: What’s to like about someone who wants nothing more than to destroy everyone else’s creation? If I thought he had the slightest chance of succeeding I’d be frightened of him. That doesn’t mean I’m not going to thwart this murderous coward every chance I get.

    Khemra: Your rigidity nearly let Turoch and his lackey beat us. You set the sun every night because of an unnecessary compromise with our darker siblings. That is why I choose to light up the night sky.

    Greymoria: She’d replace Tuorch if she could, but she knows she can’t, so she chooses to piss all over creation to try to keep the rest of us from enjoying it.

    Phidas: He’d replace Turoch if he could, and believes that through scheming and whining about his wound he’ll succeed. I don’t think he has a chance at becoming Turoch the Second, but I do believe he does have a chance of becoming the Lesser Turoch if I wasn’t here to keep him in his place.

    As mentioned before Zarthus is in love with Mera. He is more likely to meet her halfway between his style of violently opposing evil and her dream of stopping evil by promoting love between all living creatures. The two work together often and well much to Hallisan’s envy. So what keeps Mera and Zarthus from becoming eternally betrothed? Zarthus also loves Nami, and Zarthus cannot decide whom he likes best (though if observing the interplay between churches on the material plane is an indication, he prefers Mera). When Zarthus’ and Nami’s flocks and clerics get together for revels or to demonstrate against oppressive Lawful organizations, they become difficult to distinguish from each other.

    Zarthus likes Korus in so much as Korus never cause any problems in Zarthus eyes. Therefore the two are on reasonably good terms but they don’t interact very much. As mentioned before, Zarthus relationship with Hallisan is determined largely by their shared affections for Mera. They disagree on how best to serve the common Good, in many ways Mera is symbolic of the common Good so their eternal debate on methods, their eternal struggle against Evil is colored by their desperate attempt to show off for a pretty girl. They work together because Mera wants all Good people to work together. Zarthus doesn’t view Maylar as the serious threat to the universe as Maylar wishes to be though he doesn’t let up on Maylar, not underestimating the harm he can do to individuals, and anyway he can’t let Hallisan do all the Maylar fighting and take all the credit.

    Zarthus admits that the Compact was necessary but regrets many of the finer details. While he admits he is partially to blame, rushing through the process for fear of lingering too long and being found out by Turoch, he blames Khemra for creating the compromises in the Compact that give the Evil deities so much leeway to cause harm on a daily basis. Zarthus’ resistance groups spring up around Khemra temples whenever they feel that Khemra’s rigidity is sheltering Evil. Greymoria is opposed, if not with greater zeal, than with greater force. Like most of the Nine, Zarthus doesn’t look well on Greymoria’s attempts to poison the world out of spite, and especially doesn’t appreciate how she deliberately sets herself out to make Mera suffer.

    Mera has dreams of a world so infused with love that the Evil deities can’t accomplish anything and Hallisan has dreams of imprisoning one or two of the Evil deities. Zarthus has his own dream: destroying Phidas outright. While he recognizes the damage it would cause to the universal order, he thinks it would do less damage than Phidas’ scheming in the long run. After all, Zarthus was able to better the world after destroying the Traitor, he’s willing to risk it again. Zarthus isn’t planning fratricide per se. He just is prepare to take that step should Phidas truly go too far and be on the verge to gain the greater power he keeps saying is due to him, Zarthus is prepared to cross the line most of the other Nine don’t expect him to cross. Zarthus isn’t planning to commit fratricide more than once (okay twice, but in all fairness the Traitor more or less sacrificed his/her sibling status by siding with Turoch). Zarthus hopes that killing Phidas will send a strong enough message to Greymoria and Maylar to toe the line.


    Core Teachings of the Nine


    Sure the Nine have alignments but that is not the end-all be all of their existence. Together they are the gods of everything. Scarterrans don’t have to be Lawful Evil to worship Phidas. So what do they do besides epitomize their alignments?


    Mera

    Cherish your family and community.

    Recognize that all beings are part of a greater community.

    Protect those who need it.

    Be generous to all, especially those in great need.

    Water is essential to all life, ensure that is used well.

    Hallisan

    Promote hard work for this is the key for all to better themselves.

    Stand resolute against all who would threaten good people.

    Pursue excellence in all you do, if you diminish your crafts you diminish yourself.

    Promote justice and fairness for a just society forms the basis, both for vigilance against evil and prodigious industry.

    Zarthus

    Provide for yourself and your family, help others do likewise.

    Don’t become consumed by your work, make sure you enjoy life and all it has to offer, help others do likewise.

    Those who restrict another’s ability to provide for themselves or enjoy themselves must be punished.

    Seek beauty wherever it may be found so you can enjoy it and share it with others.

    Seek corruption wherever it is hiding it, so it may be removed before it festers.

    Encourage music and art to glorify Zarthus’ gift and spread joy and wonder.

    Korus

    Help others appreciate nature’s bounty.

    Learn to live off the land in a sustainable way.

    Learn about the cycle of nature and how things are interconnected.

    Leave others to their own devices unless they refuse to do likewise for others.

    Khemra

    Follow the roles you were destined for and make sue others do likewise and don’t overstep their bounds.

    Seek and share knowledge and make sure it is preserved for future generations.

    Help create and maintain ordered societies for this is the way to ultimately benefit all.

    Nami

    Embrace you passions, do not restrain them.

    Be like the weather: Don’t be predictable but don’t be completely random either.

    Embrace change in all its forms.

    Prevent others from taking themselves too seriously and expose the lies and hypocrisies they try to hide behind.

    Greymoria

    Love Greymoria above all others for without her nothing would exist.

    Punish those who do not love Greymoria.

    Encourage the spread of arcane arts for this will glorify Greymoria.

    Maylar

    Test the limits of your strength and those of others.

    Elevate yourself by any means necessary, and never grow complacent regards to your own strength.

    Those who can endure your testing will become stronger, those who cannot endure it should serve those who can in some way.

    If the weak cannot be used, destroy them. Thus the cycle of life can be renewed.

    Phidas

    Obey all your oaths and contracts and repay all your debts.

    Help others fulfill their commitments when they falter slightly. Punish them when they fail entirely.

    Create order to encourage the keeping of one’s commitments and fortify the world against destruction and chaos.


    Priests and Temples

    Note D&D and Pathfinder are big on spellcasting Clerics (referred to with a capital C), so are the Nine. Note, you don’t have to be able sling about spells and turn undead in order to lead a worship service or preside over a wedding or funeral. Most Clerics are priests. Most priests are not Clerics.

    Another thing, priests, even Clerics, aren’t required to be at or near their deity’s alignment. Most are, but every priesthood has at least one splinter faction that defies the alignment stereotype while still upholding their deity’s ideals. While a fringe faction that will likely butt heads with the leaders of the mainstream priesthood, the Nine themselves and their spirit minions tend to be a lot more lenient on heterodoxy very rarely making their wishes known unless a priest utterly betrays their deity’s principles.

    Most non-priests worship all or at least most of the Nine. Even priests will acknowledge the rest of the pantheon at appropriate times. While priests are specialized, Scarterra is very much a polytheistic world.

    The descriptions below focus mostly on civilized humans and demi-humans. All the sentient races have the same gods, but they usually worship them differently.

    Mera Priest Factions


    Mera’s priesthood doesn’t have any formalized standards or ranks that all members share. Mera expects mutual respect to be the glue that holds her priesthood together. Most of the time that’s enough. There is general deference to priests with seniority. Iterate priests tend to defer to locals. When acting collectively Mera’s priests try to follow the lead of whoever seems most experienced in the task at hand. Usually they manage to work together fairly harmoniously and a lack of formal protocols rarely hinders them.

    New members are usually trained at temples where they volunteer for service (if adults) or are oblated by their families (if they are children). Smaller temples use a mentor-apprentice system with priests taking on protégés when their other duties allow it. Larger temples routinely train multiple recruits at a time with one or more priests accepting teaching as their primary duty. A once rare practice that’s becoming more common is for an iterant priest to recruit someone while on the road and train him on the road while performing his duties. New recruits take an oath and are deemed Initiates until they are deemed ready to become full members. Then they take another oath and gain the title Brother or Sister. The third title, Elder, exists representing a priest others defer to routinely. Standards for what qualify as elder vary widely from place to place, but most priests will respect an elder from another temple or tradition.

    Though the details are lost to history, there is a very long standing split within Mera’s priesthood among the Humans. While Mera temples differ widely among regions most identify themselves as either being Terrawans or Walchese referring to which of their legendary forebears they take after more: Terrawa or Walcha. There are a small number of temples that straddle the two traditions. Most of these hybrid temples are either very new or very old. With the exception of the Firebringers who claim to be the oldest faction, all the smaller factions claim to have arisen out of the Terrawans or Walchese.

    Dwarves and Elves rarely become priests of Mera and those few temples in their lands are nearly all Walchese, with the exception of the Mondarian Dwarves who are all Terrawan. Gnomes frequently become priests of Mera, and they lean very heavily towards the Terrawan tradition though they will often assimilate the practices of Human Mera priests near them. Mera’s has very few priests or temples from other races and these tend to be very unique, essentially completely removed from the Terrawan/Walchese division. Mera strongly encourages her followers to promote harmony between all the races of Scarterras and any temple is open to priests and congregations of any race or faction, at least in theory. In reality, the community focus of her priests and the fact that most communities are made up of one race, integrated temples are quite rare (apart from Mondart where most temples have Human and Dwarven priests and congregants).

    Terrawans: Terrawans believe that Mera’s clergy should integrate with their communities as much as possible. They are usually encouraged, sometimes virtually required, to marry and have children. Terrawan clerics often work multiple jobs often serving as the village cobbler, blacksmith, or any number of mundane jobs in addition to their priestly duties. Most Terrawan temples grow enough of their own food so as to be nearly self-sufficient, rarely pressing hard for donations. Terrawan temples tend to be very modest in size and artistry. Many services are held in or near the homes of the congregation instead of their temples especially when the nature of the service is very personal like a wedding, baptism, or funeral. Non-spell casting priests are fairly common. Rank is based largely on seniority, not raw power so Experts are often in charge of the Clerics. Terrawans tend to travel often both so as to be able to administer to as many people as possible and because their temples tend to be located in rural areas with widely dispersed congregations.

    Walchese: Walchese believe that Mera’s clergy serves their community best by making themselves examples of piety to inspire their congregations. Most Walchese take a variety of vows that set them apart from their congregation, especially chastity. Most Walchese clerics do not pursue mundane occupations and most temples rely on donations to feed their staff and handle building upkeep. Most Walchese temples are large and ornate and nearly all of them boast a fire called an everlasting hearth that is maintained twenty-four hours a day (though everlasting hearths are hardly uncommon in Terrawan temples). Many have nearby or attached inns or hospitals. Services are nearly always performed at the temples and most services are presided over by a spell-casting cleric. Non-spellcasting clergy are often held up as greater exemplars of Mera’s faith, but they paradoxically rarely rise to positions of authority, mainly serving in supporting roles. They tend to wait for others to come to them in the temple than mingle with the populace. Walchese temples are more likely to be found in larger towns or cities or along major trade routes.

    Wayfarers: Originating from the Terrawans, it now includes Walchese. The Wayfarers refers to any priests of Mera who focus on protecting waterways. They maintain lighthouses along the coast and operate trading posts along major river byways. Many provide free or discounted divine magic to parties patrolling for pirates and hostile sea monsters. The newest sub-branch of the Wayfarers maintains temples catering to travelers built near oases along important desert trade routes.

    Guardians: This newest splinter group from Mera’s priesthood sprung from the Walchese. It has yet to spread beyond a few isolated areas. Areas with Guardian temples are almost entirely run by Mera’s clerics. They collect all the regions output of food and any other products and then distribute them the populace as needed. They arrange marriages, serve as the police, lead the soldiers should an external threat arise and basically control all aspects of their congregation’s lives, all in the name of their protection and welfare. Other Mera clerics look askance on their heavy handed and patronizing attitude of the Guardians, but the Guardians claim that their congregations are among the safest and most prosperous people in the world. Benevolent police states, or at least that’s what they try to be.

    Pure Ones: A splinter group emerging from the Walchese. Pure Ones are complete pacifists. They take vows of poverty to go along with their vows of chastity and are strict vegans. Unlike the Walchese they sprung from, they favor simpler temples and vestments. In recent generations, Maylar’s and Greymoria’s more violent followers have begun targeting them. Maylar’s followers attack the priests directly while Greymoria’s followers attack their congregations and dare the priests to fight back. They have lost almost as many members to declining recruitment than they have to casualties. Mera’s other clerics generally try to respect the Pure One’s wishes and do not generally come to their aid militarily. Most of the Pure One’s surviving temples now have a temple of Zarthus nearby providing protection that wasn’t asked for.

    Firebringers: Fire brings light and warmth to keep the darkness away. While Firebringers do provide comfort to the afflicted like all Mera’s clerics do, they prefer to be proactive. They serve as mediators between factions in conflicts. Sometimes they smite evil doers to protect the innocent. Naturally most adventuring clerics of Mera are Firebringers. The Firebringers have protocols and traditions unique to their sect, but they hold no temples as they are expected to constantly be traveling to trouble spots. Would-be Firebringers need to be sponsored by an existing Firebringer and their home temple to be candidates. The Walchese and Tarawans temples produce roughly equal numbers of Firebringers, but the factional differences don’t disappear entirely. Walchese firebringers tend to sponsor Walchese candidates and likewise for the Tarawans. Candidates who pass the tests set by their sponsor then accompany their mentor in the field until deemed ready to act on their own. I’m not sure if I want Scarterra to have Paladins, but if I do, many of them will be honorary Firebringers.

    Blessed Ones: This is the term Mera’s priesthood uses to refer to her favored souls. Mera doesn’t empower many favored souls and most of those she does empower are in areas where her priesthoods hold little sway, so they don’t come into a lot of contact with formal preists. Mera’s faithful believe that most if not all Blessed Ones are created with a very specific (and very important mission). Thus any favored soul can expect strong support from any temple they come into contact with, but they can also expect to be held to very high standards of behavior. Most Blessed Ones who decide to officially join Mera’s priesthood become Firebringers.


    Hallisan Priest Factions

    All of Hallisan’s Human temples have the same code of laws and rank system and answer to the Elder. The position of Elder is held for life. Each Elder elected from by a vote from a council made up of the leaders of every temple (this is called the Council). Usually the Council meets in person, but far flung leaders can issue absentee votes by messenger. Not every place of worship is a temple. Most are called chapels and are answerable to the nearest temple. Most temples have councils made up of the leaders of every chapel that in turn elect their councilor mirroring the greater hierarchy. Temples with very widely dispersed chapels find such regular votes impractical at best. Chapel leaders are called Father or Mother. Temple Leaders are called Revered Mother or Father.

    Recruitment occurs when perspective members volunteer (or are oblated by their families) at their nearest place of worship. Those who are accepted by the leader of their chapel are then brought to the nearest temple where they must be accepted by the temple leader. Training for Human Clerics is always performed at a temple, not a chapel. Exceptions sometimes occur for non-human Clerics or priests of any race who do not have PC class levels in Cleric. Training always takes four years at which point the new initiate is brought before the Council and tested. Few fail this testing. Those that fail get one more year of schooling to address their problem areas or may choose to resign. If they fail their second set of testing after a year, they are expelled from Hallisan’s order (this is exceedingly rare). Once said test is passed they then become full members with assigned duties (usually at the temple they trained at or one of its associated chapels).

    Dwarves have their own Elder and their own hierarchy. The main difference (besides the size of their beards) is that every house of worship regardless of size is considered a temple and therefore has equal political standing. The Dwarven Elder generally gives his temples noticeably more autonomy than the Human Elder does.

    Hallisan priesthood in the Elven Empire has its own system of ranks and own set of regulations as well. They too have a council that elects an Elder, but their elders serve 81 year terms rather than for life. The Elvish Council makes most of the actual decisions with the position of Elder being mostly ceremonial.

    Gnomes are part of the same hierarchy as the Human one. They only have a single temple overseeing all Gnome chapels. Since it has more chapels than any other, many gnomes are pressing for additional temples. There have been two attempts in the past by the Gnomish temple to split into two or more temples to better administer their chapels (and to get an extra vote on the council), but they have both failed. There is (quiet) talk among them of forming their own conclave like the Dwarves and Elves, but this is hampered by the fact that many Gnome priests serve in mixed Human-Gnome chapels.

    Hallisan has very few clerics and temples among other races. None of them have the numbers to make an expansive hierarchy and they have generally rebuffed attempts in the past by the Elf or Human priesthoods to co-opt them assuming the Humans and Elves even notice them

    Non Cleric Priests: Favored Souls of Hallisan are widely praised publicly by temple leaders but in private they are usually denied most positions in temple due to their lack of formal training, so most act as free agents. Many priests are actually Experts or Paladins (assuming I decide to have Paladins). Experts rarely ever get to be temple heads, but this is not unheard of. No non-spellcasting Revered Mother or Father has ever been elected Elder. Paladins who settle down in one place are disproportionately likely to become a Revered Mother or Father someday, but only one Human paladin has ever been elected Elder. The elves are the exception and have elected many paladins Elder.

    Most of Hallisan’s priests will say they have no factions but each temple is a type of faction unto itself with differing challenges, priorities and methods of doing things. Charismatic and/or politically ambitious clerics often serve as the centers of their own de facto factions. One temple bears mention for it contains two orders which transcend all the temples.

    Grand Temple: The Grand Temple has no chapels reporting to it. It has the other Temples reporting to it. It serves as the seat where the Council meets and where the Elder presides. It’s up to the Elder whether he mostly works from the Grand Temple or is a hands-on leader frequently traveling to the temples under him. The Grand Temple has a Steward who acts as the leader of the temple in the Elder’s absence and sits on the Council (but doesn’t vote). The Steward commands and coordinates the Grand Temple Guard and the Grand Temple Harbingers.


    Grand Temple Guard: No one has assaulted the Grand Temple in over a hundred years, but attacks on Councils members or even the Elders while they are in transit are a fairly common occurrence, so the primary duty of the Guard is to ensure the safety of the Elder and the Council at these times. The Guard also will mobilize if an external threat is too large for one temple to handle or spills across the borders of multiple Temple’s protectorates.

    Grand Temple Harbingers: In order for the Elder to direct the temples under him, he need to get his proclamations to them. In order to make wise decisions he needs to be kept informed of their local situations. The Harbingers’ duty is to make sure the lines of communication between the Grand Temple and the other temples remain open at all times. Harbingers also are responsible for facilitating any and all joint efforts between the Human, Elven, and Dwarven sects of Hallisan’s priesthood.

    The Temple of the Great Stone: The Great Stone is the holiest site in the world to all dwarves who revere Hallisan (which is most of them). Believed to be the site where Hallisan forged the first the first dwarves from the living rock of the Great Stone. The Great Stone is the site of the Dwarves holiest temple. Many dwarves make it a point to make a pilgrimage to the Great Stone at some point in their lives. Control of the city around the Great Stone has been disputed between the nations of Mecklorn and Stahlheim. Rather than profane their holy site with Dwarfs fighting Dwarfs, the area around the Great Stone was declared its own separate (tiny) nation governed solely by the Priests of Hallisan with a few advisors from other priesthoods. Think of it like a Dwarven Vatican.


    Zarthus Priest Factions

    Priest of Zarthus are free to recruit whoever they wish and they are free to customize their training however they wish provided they cover the core tenets important to Zarthus. Training regimens outside the one-on-one mentor-apprentice system are very rare. Zarthus has a higher proportion of priests without the Cleric class than any other of the Nine except maybe Greymoria. As long as they know enough canon they can lead services, preside over funerals, weddings and the like (5 ranks of Knowledge: Religion), they can be priests. There is the informal requirement that all of Zarthus priests excel at something that they enjoy that can be used in Zarthus’ service. This can be a form of art, a particular trade, fighting ability, or the ability to cast divine spells. Generally Zarthus’ priests have an insignia relating to their skill or skills. The insignia is so a Zarthus worshipper doesn’t ask a priest for a service they cannot provide. Unless they specifically ask to not be included, most Favored Souls of Zarthus are inducted into the priesthood and are treated more or less like any other priest.

    Zarthus’ priesthood has some of the most widely divergent and often conflicting factions of any of the Nine (save perhaps Maylar and Greymoria). This almost never results in bloodshed (beyond the occasional non-lethal duel), but it makes joint efforts very difficult. Most priests of Zarthus will claim to be part of no faction or simply name the most renowned priest in his lineage. In this case, lineage follows mentor-apprenticeship bonds instead of bloodline. Since priests tend to take on apprentices like themselves, members of the same lineage frequently have similar goals and methods to each other.

    Beyond this, most priests of Zarthus can be lumped into one of three broad categories. The Patrons refers to priests who focus on artistic expression and revelry. The Homesteaders refers to priests who focus on supporting the physical welfare of their (usually isolated) congregations. Vindicators refers to those who stand up to oppressive rulers and/or hunt down enemies of Zarthus and his followers. Most priests have little problem dealing with priests belonging to the other two broad groups realizing that all these roles are important. Priests have the most issues with other priests of their own broad faction differing widely over methods and priorities. More specific groups of note are below.

    Library of Zarthus: Zarthus’ priests long ago helped establish a college for bards. While independent of Zarthus’s priesthood for the most part, the bards of this college (many of whom are priests of Zarthus as well) specialized in collecting the many stories involving the deeds of the faithful of Zarthus. One priest in his travels realized the scope of differences between differing priests and decided that more than tales of deeds should be preserved. He believed that the priests of Zarthus were hurting themselves by not sharing their methods with each other whether they were variations on ceremonies, instructions for making unique magic items, or secret codes. Every time a priest died, irreplaceable knowledge was lost. He tried to expand the library to include more than tales but also operational knowledge (though getting priests to volunteer their secrets here was difficult). He also tried to encourage period exchanges of apprentice Zarthus priests of different mentors. There were very few takers on this. Of these few takers, four tried to implement a new program. The library now is the base for Zarthus’ only permanent seminary attempting to provide a well rounded education for new priests. The first graduating class had four instructors and nine students. The current incarnation has six permanent instructors and averages around twenty students. There is some resentment towards those priests without a traditional mentorship (they have no lineage!), but other established priests have supported the school, which is usually willing to allow iterant priests to serve as guest instructors briefly if they are so inclined.

    Mask Breakers: Most Rebel priests form local factions that only last until their local foe is defeated (or they themselves are defeated). The Mask Breakers are an exception. The Mask Breakers refer to a loose association of priests who make it their primary mission to oppose Phidas all around the world. They mount a guerilla campaign against Phidas’ temples and any nation officially backed by Phidas’ priesthood. Zarthus priests as a rule don’t like Phidas but the ruthlessness of the Mask Breakers causes most others to keep them at arm’s length. Their willingness to take lives in the name of the greater good causes their detractors to accuse them of becoming what they seek to fight. Others argue that it only leads to escalation as Phidas’ priests almost inevitably step up their oppression in retaliation. Mask Breakers earn enemies from their own side. Mask Breakers move around a lot, so the retaliation enacted against them often falls on their more peaceful Zarthus worshipping brethren instead.

    Lineage of Gariel: The Zarthus priestess Gariel is said to have fallen in love with a priest of Mera (or in some versions of the story the priest of Mera was her brother and the relationship was platonic). This particular Mera priest was a strict pacifist. When he (and everyone else in his temple) was murdered by parties unknown, Gariel went on a quest to hunt down everyone and anyone who seemed likely to be responsible. Sating her revenge on a nearby tribe of orcs, she realized she had no real means of figuring out who killed her love. She vowed to never let it happen it again. Gariel has long since died, but her lineage is strong and now defends Mera’s priests and congregations whether they ask for it or not.

    Apseldia Temple: Zarthus’ priests have been opposing oppression since they were formed. They were certainly there when the Half-Elven forefathers of Apseldia threw off their Human and Elven oppressors and established their own nation. Usually the priests move on whenever they succeed at overthrowing a regime, normally letting the newly freed people handle their own affairs. In this case, most of the priests stayed and helped form the new government and became a vital part of the running of day-to-day affairs. Generations later, Apseldia is no longer in immediate danger of being swallowed up by a bigger nation. Zarthus’ local priests find themselves in unique situation: they have now become “The Man”. With so few traditions set in stone, the Apseldia’s priests are likely to diverge more and more from other priests, who are not normally found in positions of governance and power. Already there is resentment building towards them from other priests for “selling out.”

    Lineage of Tabrath: This is one of the oldest lineages known. Tabrath was a famed crusader against innumerable marauding monsters. While Tabrath was a lone warrior type, the bearers of his legacy are among the most cohesive of any faction in Zarthus’ priesthood. Today his lineage and their non-clergy supporters makes up squads or small armies of monster hunters. Heroes to any number would-be beleaguered villages on the edge of the wilderness, the lineage of Tabrath has many enemies. They are accused of disproportionately taking revenge for mild harassment into genocidal heights and accused of attacking “monstrous” races that didn’t do anything bad at all, just for treasure and glory. This has led to pre-emptive attacks against them, especially by dragons and Greymoria’s congregation.

    The Searching Moon: Called Inquisitors by their detractors, No single priest has gained enough prestige over the Inquisitors’ brief history for this to be a true lineage. The Inquisitors is a loose term referring to Zarthus priests who focus on combating hidden evils. Not politically hidden, but mundanely or supernaturally hidden. They rankle other Zarthus priests by routinely cooperating with lawful authorities in order to unearth and prosecute hidden evil monsters and cults.


    Korus Priest Factions



    Korus’ priests maintain many ancient traditions, but there is lots of regional variation and little in the way of a world spanning hierarchy. Most priests identify themselves as Stewards of Korus’ Gift or Stewards of Korus’ Dominion. The Stewards of the Gift focus on agriculture. They are usually clerics or experts and are usually trained raised from a young age in a local temple near their birth place. Most candidates are oblated by their families when they are children. The Stewards of the Dominion focus on the wilderness. They are usually Rangers or Druids. Most candidates are shadowed by a priest for years. If the priest believes a perspective candidate would do well, they are asked if they like to join (usually in adolescence or young adulthood), and then they begin their training in the field following their mentor. Non-spellcasting priests are rare, but Stewards of the Gift tend to incorporate a lot of lay people into their ceremonies and those who excel at it often receive much prestige from their communities. Most subgroups of either major faction are very localized and informal, only falling back on formality when receiving visiting priests. The shared formal protocols generally are sufficient to allow cooperation across disparate groups when it becomes necessary.

    Stewards of the Gift help ensure that sustainable farming (or logging or fishing etc) techniques are used. They lead most harvest and planting festivals as well as administer their services for the congregations’ mundane needs serving as midwives, advisors, and healers. Stewards of the Dominion sometimes serve as guides through the wilderness or as gamekeepers but many, if not most of them, are somewhat reclusive and distant from civilized folk. Most Stewards of the Dominion focus on nature itself and not how the civilized world interacts with it. Some can be quite hostile to those they see as intruders or despoilers.

    Talons of Korus: This small faction of Stewards of the Dominion is quite feared. They protect the most sacred places against any and all intruders and hunt down and punish those who they deem sinners against nature. There are rumors that they are aiming to bring down certain cities and farmlands entirely so that nature can reclaim some of what was taken from it.

    Urban Stewards: In the biggest population centers, usually ones with a temple district housing temples to all the Nine in close proximity. The priests of Korus find themselves in an odd position they are not used to, that of mediator. Korus’ priests are widely assumed to have little bias and thus are routinely called in when there are disputes between priesthoods of the other eight deities and in many secular disputes besides. What few non-spellcasting priests Korus have tend to be found in urban centers. Their new niche caused the recruiting shift as instincts for diplomacy and tact become more important than a knack for agriculture or wilderness survival.

    The Seedlings: Korus’ favored souls are more common than most other of the Nine. They occasionally become priests filling both stewardships in roughly equal numbers, but for the most part live their lives independent of any hierarchy. They are said to spread about like seedlings on the wind so that Korus’ teachings and values can spring up in far flung places. The Seedlings are a widely diverse lot and generally allowed to do as they please by Korus’ established priests. Few commonalities among them can be established. While there are many where it’s hard to tell how they are furthering Korus’ goals, none seem to be acting counter to them.

    Nomadic Stewards: Technically Stewards of the Dominion, priests of Korus associated with various nomadic peoples deserve special mention. Unlike most Dominion Stewards, they don’t hide at the fringes of society or avoid it altogether. They are vital and integral parts of the societies they are part of. The catch is their societies are barbaric nomadic tribes. They are often second only to the chiefs or elders in authority (and serve as interim chief if there is a vacancy). They are usually groomed from birth for their roles as priests or priestess later. Priestesses are present at most births in their tribes and ascertain if any of the signs say a new child is a strong candidate. They also have more gender divisions than most other priests of Korus. Priestesses focus on internal issues like sickness, birth, and community cohesion. Priests focus on external issues like finding food and water and avoiding or defeating dangers.


    Khemra’s Priest Factions


    Khemra naturally has a centralized priesthood. Every priest is ordained into one of the five Orders. Each priests answers to a senior member of his own order. When Orders must work together and one is priest is clearly of superior rank to the others that priest takes charge. If such is not the case, they defer to the Eclipse Order first, then the Zenith Order, then the Day Order, then the Dusk Order. The majority of most priests stay in one order all their lives, but switching is by no means unheard of. A great many priests try to make it into the Zenith Order at the end of their careers, and a fair number of priests cut their teeth in the Dawn or Dusk Orders and then transfer to another order. Khemra’s priesthood has many non-spell casting priests but they have their own separate system of ranks. Generally a high ranking non-spellcasting member is on comparable footing with a low ranking spell-caster. Non-spellcasting do the many necessary but inglorious tasks that let the temples run smoothly and many parley this into informal influence exceeding their official title. Because of this, a spellcaster that is consistently rude to his/her non-spellcasting brethren is likely to regret their behavior.

    Dawn Order: Dawn is associated with new beginnings. The Dawn Order’s primary duty is recruitment. They recruit all perspective priests for training (though other Orders can and often do pass on recommendations). In addition to searching out candidates, they interview all volunteers. Whether they recruit children or adults is up to personal preference and regional traditions. The more powerful the priesthood of Khemra is in an area, the more likely they are to induct children oblated by their families. In areas where Khemra is not the dominant priesthood, most recruits are adults who volunteer themselves. Dawn Order priests also proselytize to outsiders in order to enlarge Khemra’s congregation. They also have the duty to uncover secrets and new lore, so the Dawn priests are among those more likely to become adventurers. Those who specialize in uncovering lore are often nicknamed “Seekers” though the nickname also applies to the Order as a whole. The few divine bards that serve Khemra are usually Dawn Order priests.

    Day Order: Day is the time most work is done. The Day Order makes up most of the priesthood’s members. Anything that does not fall under the auspices of another order automatically falls under theirs. Their primary duty is to ensure the physical and spiritual welfare of their existing congregations of worshippers. They also advise secular leaders and provide most temple maintenance. If an area’s temple is too small to have all the orders represented, a Day Order priest usually fills in for them temporarily.

    Zenith Order: When the sun is at its zenith, Khemra watches over all. The Zenith Order are the law keepers of Khemra’s priesthood. They make sure her traditions are upheld by both Khemra’s priest and Khemra’s congregation. Khemra is said to put immense effort in making sure her siblings keep to their commitments to the Compact. There is an intense debate on how much oversight the priesthood in general and the Zenith Order in particular should have over the other priesthoods (since Khemra herself tries to keep her siblings in line with the Compact). In general priests in favor of non-interference seem to be slowly winning the debate since overzealous Zenith Order priests are making enemies of other priesthoods nearly everywhere, and this damages the whole priesthood’s standing, not just the Zenith Order. When another priest talks about a “sunblinded meddler”, they usually are referring to a Zenith, even if they aren’t aware of the five Orders. Even Khemra priests of other Orders will sometimes call an overbearing Zenith priest “sunblinded” under their breath. Due to the power it has over the others, the Zenith Order is often considered the most prestigious. Unlike the other orders, most of its members are transfers from other Orders. Those who are recruited directly into the order are true prodigies (or have cleverly passed themselves off as such).

    Dusk Order: The sky turns red at dusk, the Dusk Order spills the blood of Khemra’s foes and they shed their own blood in her defense. As the martial arm of Khemra’s priesthood, they lead expeditions against the priesthood’s foes, provide security for Khemra’s temples, and serve as military chaplains and advisors to armies of governments where Khemra’s priesthood holds political sway.

    Eclipse Order: The smallest order by far. Every single Favored Soul of Khemra is born during an eclipse and all favored souls of Khemra are inducted into Eclipse Order (barring the rare Favored Soul that dodges the priesthood altogether or is never discovered). In addition to favored souls, the Eclipse Order includes a small support staff of other priests hand selected from the other Orders. Being on that staff is considered a high honor or a tedious assignment, sometimes both at once. Favored Souls are the only priests authorized to make major changes to the priesthood’s laws and protocols. Essentially their sphere of influence includes anything they want. This gives them many rivals and sycophants among the other orders. A great many resentful priests (especially of the Zenith Order) often try to get Eclipse priests to go on lengthy quests to get them out of their hair. Other times, the Favored Souls themselves volunteer for lengthy quests finding the scrutiny they receive stifling. So far none have been sent on a suicide mission deliberately.

    Khemrarok: The nation of Khemrarok is a theocracy in Khemra’s service. All the major government positions have to be held by priests. As a result, there are more non-spell casting priests of Khemra here than anywhere else. Many of the non-spell casting priests end up wielding more temporal authority than spell-casters that far out rank them in the clerical hierarchy. The current emperor of Khemarok (always a Favored Soul) has established that one’s rank in Khemraok is independent of one’s rank in the priesthood. Some non-spell casting priests are hoping that this will provide a stepping stone for the current or a future emperor putting all priests on the same rank system. They have been petitioning every Eclipse priest towards that regard with the hopes that one of the priests they sway will someday become the head of the global Eclipse Order and make that change.


    Nami’s Priest Factions


    Most of Nami’s priests will say that their order has hundreds of factions with one member. Each priest has full autonomy in recruiting and ordaining new priests. Given their value placed on individualism it’s harder to trace similarities to lineages like with Zarthus’ priesthood. There are a lot of identifiable splits based on ideology or behavior. The two main ideological splits are listed below followed by several factions. Most priests don’t waver on their ideology but more than a few flit between the various subgroups listed below the ideological splits at multiple points during their careers.

    Group versus Individual Freedom: The core tenet that Nami’s priests are split on is whether they should constrain their behavior to the point where their actions don’t constrain or harm others or not. Naturally those who advocate not harming others are tolerated by non-believers more than those who don’t, and are far less persecuted. A lot of those who argue for having no constraints against harming others make it an academic poin. They actually choose to not harm others most of the time or all of the time, they just state that they do have the right to do whatever they please, even if they don’t exercise it. Thus it’s often hard to tell where many priests stand.

    Spell-casters versus non-spell casters: Most of the Nine’s priesthoods have non-spellcasting members. Sometimes they are the equal of the spell-casters, sometimes they are not. A faction of Nami’s priesthood believes that since they have no formal requirements for ordaining priests, they depend on their patron’s direct approval more than the others. Nami can refuse to empower a spell-caster if she disproves of her actions or character, but she can’t easily do so for a non-spell-caster. Many advocate only allowing spell-casters to become priests for this reason. Others say that putting that requirement on the priesthood would go against their moral whole code.

    Liberators: A loose term for those priests who stand out against oppression. Note Nami’s priests have varying definitions of what “oppression” is, and their actions vary from the purely symbolic to the intensely violent. For the most part liberators tend to be nomadic rather than focusing on a single location (the better to avoid vengeful government reprisals).

    Circuit Priests: Most people acknowledge Nami on her holy days, but few worship her much the rest of the year. Most places holy days are different from other places, so a small number of priests can preside over many ceremonies in a wide area. To many it seems like the priests just have a knack for showing up on time, but there is hard work behind the scenes to make this possible.

    Roving Congregation Priests: Those who worship Nami primarily are often nomadic. Some barbarian tribes have Nami as their primary patron and a lot of troupes of traveling entertainers count Nami as their patron. The priesthood of Nami has quite a few members on staff of the Amstrean Circus for instance. Roving priests thus have permanent congregations but non-permanent homes.

    Sedentary Priests: As mentioned before many of Nami’s priests are nomadic. Most of Nami’s sedentary congregations are in densely populated cosmopolitan areas. These temples serve as bases where nomadic priests can stop, receive training, supplies, or just a place to recuperate before moving on. They are also where most of the coordination work is done that makes the circuit priests so efficient at covering wide areas. They usually strive to remain aloof from the priesthood’s (many) internal disputes and frequently serve meeting places and/or sanctuary for priests of many different outlooks on neutral ground.

    Bachites: The Bachites are named after a legendary priest of Nami from the past. Different legends have the priest as male or female. Some have him/her as a Human, some as an Elf, some as a Dragon, some as one of the other races. The current Bachites take Nami’s command to live unrestrained as far as possible. They murder, steal, and destroy. Then they are wiped out or driven away in one area only to resurface in another time or place. They are sometimes called the Brides of Maylar even though there is no evidence they work with Maylar’s priests or congregations save they have similar methods and practices.

    Gentle Breeze: The Gentle Breeze is a loose term referring to Nami priests who take Nami’s command to help liberate others as a mandate to help others in their daily lives. They try to provide good advice, healing, and artistic outlets. They tend to be more sedentary than other priests of Nami. The movement is gaining momentum and most recently built temples fall under the sway of the Gentle Breeze. Unlike older established temples, they are less neutral with regards to outsiders, and often refuse to admit certain traveling priests in if they disagree with their methods. It may only be a matter of time before there is open warfare between them and the Bachites.


    Phidas Priest Factions


    Phidas’ clerics are allowed to recruit whomever they wish though they are restricted on how often and how many they may recruit by rank. Any ranking cleric can veto a younger cleric’s decision. If the number of clerics in an area is deemed low, clerics have quotas for recruitment rather than limits. New recruits undergo tests and training set by ancient traditions but interpreted by their mentors (usually the one who recruited them or the recruiter’s superior). Recruits deemed failures are usually simply turned away. If the temple they were recruited to happens to be a secret temple, or the recruits fails so late in his/her training that he/she has already learned secret lore, the failure is killed, though this is fairly rare. There is no official requirement that a priest must be able to cast divine magic, but non-spell casting priests are unofficially snubbed and tend to get promoted more slowly leading to most recruits choosing to learn spell craft if possible.

    Phidas’ priesthood encourages competition between priests to keep the individuals and the priesthood strong. There are a lot of rules and guidelines for these social Darwinist struggles. The most important rule is “Don’t get caught.” The second most important rule is not to slay your rivals outright since that depletes the priesthood’s power. The preferred method of competition is through unwitting proxies. Most such competition is between peers of the same rank until you reach the higher ranks when your competitors are mostly would-be usurpers. There are nine ranks. Initiates are those who take the vows of service to Phidas but haven’t been ordained. Once they pass the tests they become Novices. At which point future promotions come at the whims of those who rank subject to the approval of his superiors. The ninth rank has only three members called pontiffs. Pontiffs are selected by Phidas himself. Below the rank of pontiff there is no limit how many people can hold any given rank. The way to get rank is by getting things done, not by magical power. Making money for the Church, weakening other Churches’ influence, expanding Phidas’ congregation, tightening control on Phidas’ congregation, and training apprentices are the common ways to gain standing in the priesthood’s eyes but political acumen is needed to get the most out of one’s own accomplishments otherwise someone else will claim credit for their hard work.

    Phidas’ priesthood is also split into four Orders based on their primary function. Moving between orders is fairly common over the course of a priest’s career. The pontiffs are supposed to transcend all the Orders are not officially affiliated with any Order specifically. Most pontiffs were originally in the Order of Phidas’ Shield or Stewardship.

    Order of Phidas’ Mask: This is the largest order of Phidas’ priesthood and the one that most novices are inducted into. Phidas’ Mask provides the public face of the whole priesthood. They provide most priestly services to Phidas’ congregations. They also provide most of the liaisons with other priesthoods of the Nine.

    Order of Phidas’ Shield: Phidas’ shield is in charge of security and the day-to-day operations of Phidas’ temples not relating to interacting with the main congregation (serving as quartermasters for instance). In addition to being charge of mundane security for their congregations and temples, the Order of Phidas’ Shield is supposed to help maintain Phidas’ safeguards against the Void. Namely they post watches near the border to the Void to provide early warnings of demonic incursions. They also provide steeply discounted priestly services to any adventurers who regularly fight demons, even to individuals not normally friendly with Phidas.

    Order of Phidas’ Dagger: The Order of Phidas’ Dagger does not officially exist, only members of the third rank are allowed to know of it at all. All members must be at least of the fourth rank to join it. The Dagger performs all of the clandestine missions that the priesthood would rather no one knows about. Also they serve as the priesthood’s inquisitors, policing Phidas’ congregations and their fellow priests for disloyalty, heresy, or even simple incompetence.

    Order of Phidas’ Stewardship: This is the Order that ambitious priests usually want to join. The Order provides much of the same clerical services provided to Phidas’ congregation as the Mask Order but they focus on Phidas’ worshippers with actual positions of authority, serving as advisors to barons and kings and many of their bureaucrats.

    Phidas’ Bankers: More and more the temples of Phidas finds itself running financial institutions. These institutions are becoming more and more powerful. Once, the four Orders tried to pawn off running these institutions to the other Orders as drudgery work. Now positions in the banking field are hotly contested prizes. Currently the Stewards have the upper hand but the struggle continues and the Pontiffs have not made any significant rulings on deciding whose auspices it falls under despite numerous pleas. Financial institutions further upset the status quo by providing the most reliable way for non-spell casting priests to advance in rank since magic has relatively little to do with the work involved. Some want to christen Phidas’ Bankers into a fifth Order.

    The Priesthood of Phidas in Lunatus: Lunatus the homeland of the Elven Empire has no Pontiff. Originally the island of Lunatus had a pontiff but Phidas hasn’t replaced the last one in hundreds of years, presumably out of displeasure for his congregation declining in numbers there. The three pontiffs all have a broad regional focus that includes parts of the Elven Empire, so all three pontiffs claim to have rightful influence on the Empire’s capital of Lunatus. There are Elven priestly factions supporting all three pontiffs.

    All of the current Pontiffs are Human and many elven priests of Phidas balk at being subordinate to any Human Pontiff. The ego fires are fueled by the fact that despite a lack of pontiffs, elven priests tend to belong to higher ranks on average than Human priests. There is also a faction of priests supporting the independence of the island’s (and the whole Elven Empire’s) Phidas priesthood. It is believed by some that if a priest can effectively manipulate the three Human Pontiffs well enough to serve himself, the Elves in general, and the greater priesthood, then Phidas will reestablish a Lunatus pontiff. Others believe that whoever spearheads Phidas displacing Khemra as the preeminent religion of the Elven Empire will be thus promoted. Thus even the Elven independence movement is factionalized as they disagree with how to get there and who the future Pontiff should be.

    Other Phidas Priests: Dwarf worship for Phidas is slowly growing. Dwarf priests of Phidas are nominally included in the greater Human hierarchy. Most of them are members of Phidas’ Shield or Phidas’ Mask. Dwarf priests tend to be more patient and less scheming and ambitious than Human priests. They have a “slow and steady” attitude towards personal advancement and the advancement of Phidas’ priesthood. They claim this strategy has helped them raise the status of Phidas in the Dwarven nation of Stahlheim and raise Stahlheim’s prosperity and standing. Like the Dwarves, Gnome priests are in the same broad hierarchy of the Humans. Gnome priests are generally too rare and diverse hard to pigeonhole, but they tend to carry grand ambitions masked behind Gnomish diplomacy and politesse. Their schemes and plans seem to fall between the glacial Dwarf and short-sighted Human time scales.

    Dark Elf priests of Phidas are not connected to the hierarchy of the Elven Empire or the Humans. Phidas is the second most influential deity in Kahdisteria, a distant second. Greymoria’s priesthood is so powerful amongst the Dark Elves, that Dark Elf Phidas priests know better than to rock the boat. They quietly pick up as much invisible influence in finance and trade as they can while letting Greymoria’s priests continue to advise the top rulers unchallenged. Phidas worship amongst the monstrous races is also not connected with any global hierarchy. They tend to be very informal though the main Human dominated hierarchy has cautiously begun training a small number of Kobolds as Clerics.

    Blessed One Heresy: Alone among the Nine, Phidas has no Favored Souls at all. Most people believe that Phidas can’t make favored souls, but Phidas’ priests maintain that Phidas neither wants nor needs favored souls. The Blessed One Heresy states that Phidas empowered several Blessed Ones at the beginning of the Second and Third Ages helping the emerging Humans and elves thrive. The heretics believe that Phidas will empower another Blessed One (or several) who will lead all of Scarterrans (or just Phdias’ faithful into a golden age). This flies in the face of the priesthoods teaching and is ruthlessly quashed whenever it’s detected. Phidas and his spirits have not issued any comment about the heresy one way or the other.


    Greymoria Priest Factions


    Greymoria is the only one of the Nine to not accept any non-spell casting priests whatsoever. Her priesthood is also the only one to routinely ordain arcane spell casters as priests. There are probably about as many arcane casters as divine casters amog her priesthood. Requiring magical talent is a fairly stringent entry requirement combined with the relatively small size of Greymoria’s congregation make Greymoria’s priesthood rather small. The Dark Elf nation of Kahdisteria has a very political powerful Church recruiting primarily from the nobility or powerful arcane spell-casters arising from the middle classes. Elsewhere Greymoria’s priests have to maintain a low profile if not absolute secrecy. Priests develop a relationship with a potential recruits or shadow them secretly not revealing who they serve and gage a candidates receptivity towards Greymoria’s doctrine as well as the candidates likely magical aptitudes, only making a recruitment pitch when they are fairly certain the candidate will respond favorably. Candidates who refuse are sometimes killed; candidates who fail are nearly always killed. Priests are expected to promote arcane magic, encourage adoration for Greymoria, and punish those who deny Greymoria, particularly Mera’s congregations. Most priests of Greymoria do not join one of the specialized factions below and instead seek to serve Greymoria in a more general way.

    Sorcerers’ Heresy: Official doctrine for Greymoria’s priesthood is that wizardry was invented by Greymoria as opposed to sorcery which was just indirectly administered by Greymoria. Thus, wizards are closer to her than sorcerers. The sorcerer heresy attests that since sorcerers are born with a tie with Greymoria and wizards have to learn it, thus sorcerers are actually closer to Greymoria than anyone else. The Heresy is naturally powerful in Swynfaredia (which is ruled by sorcerers) and Greymoria’s mainstream priests don’t have the ability to enforce their decrees there. In Kahdisteria, there is functionally no Heresy as wizards and sorcerers are technically considered equal there; an individual standing depends on how personally powerful he is relative to his peers, not the source of his power.

    Shepherds: Greymoria created a lot of new races to do her bidding. Most of Greymoria’s children wouldn’t be alive today if they didn’t have first Dragons, then Elves, and later Human faithful protecting them early on when their numbers were small. The Shepherds’ primary duty is to ensure the welfare of Greymoria’s newest children. Greymoria never created new children particularly often so most of the time Shepherds focus on helping existing races, or punishing them if they fall out of line with Greymoria’s desires. A few enterprising priests, mostly Transmuters, seek to create their own “children” to serve Greymoria.

    Bearers of the Book: The most benign of Greymoria’s factions, the Bearers speak of the first Book of Magic that the first mortals learned wizardry from. They seek to promote the study of wizardry in any of its forms, even if those wizards don’t primarily worship Greymoria. They also have the crazy idea that if they are nice to people in Greymoria’s name, Greymoria will get more worshippers. They hope to increase praise towards Greymoria as people learn the inestimable value of wizardry to society though they face resistance from the general populace which expects them to be up to Greymoria’s typical mischief and their fellow priests who disprove of there methods. If there is a public temple to Greymoria outside of Kahdisteria, it’s probably run by the Bearers of the Book. They are naturally very much opposed to the Sorcerers’ heresy.

    Shadow Hunters: The Hunters spread wizardry and encourage people to become warlocks and witches like many other priests of Greymoria. Their primary purpose though is to hunt down wizards, warlocks, and to a much lesser extent sorcerers who do not worship Greymoria and convert or kill them. Most are satisfied if said arcane caster regularly worships Greymoria alongside others of the Nine, but a few hardliners are satisfied by nothing less than a complete conversion. The Shadow Hunters view the Bearers of the Book as heretics who encourage the spread of magic to the unworthy.

    Slayers of the Soft: The Slayers special in causing trouble for the congregations and priests of Hallisan, Zarthus, and especially Mera. It’s up to individual choice whether they favor inflicting suffering or endorse outright killing their foes. Drowning is the preferred method of murder since it inverts the benign aspects of water that Mera represents.


    Maylar’s Priest Factions


    Maylar’s priests have full autonomy on who to recruit and how to train their recruits. Once the priest has deemed his recruit ready, he then sends his recruit through the Ordeal. The Ordeal varies from person to person and place to place, but all Ordeals are physically demanding. Tests of endurance are the most common, often involving enduring deprivation or torture (self-afflicted or otherwise). Tests of combat are also common, especially for non-spell casting priests. The ordeal doesn’t end until the applicant dies or receives a noticeable sign of Maylar’s approval. For a would-be divine spell caster the sign is usually their first use of divine magic. If the applicant is not a spell caster the sign is usually a disembodied voice or an image seen in gore. Alternatively a Maylar spirit may appear and challenge them to ritual combat. The more extreme and obvious the sign is, the greater Maylar’s favor is. Maylar’s priesthood has no cloistered clerics at all. All of Maylar’s priests are expected to be able to fight competently if not exceptionally. Favored souls are usually treated like any other priest. Many favored souls don’t bother with formally espousing Maylar’s tenets and just live as bandit kings or warlords and this suits most of the priesthood just fine.

    Maylar encourages infighting to keep the priesthood strong. When two priests of Maylar meet for the first time there usually is expected to be a show of strength by both parties if not an outright duel. Usually where everyone stands is decided quickly, but meetings between equals tend to be very drawn out and are often lethal to one of the participants. Factions based on an individual, dogma, or tactics usually resolve conflicts with other groups in similar ways with aggressive displays and our physical confrontation. Both factions and individuals within the priesthood tend to be territorial. Establishing well defined territories helps priests showcase their strength without constantly fighting each other. Now they only need to fight when territories overlap or when traveling. Most factions are based on the leadership of a single powerful priest rather than ideology or tactics but the classifications below cover many variations on these cults of personality.

    Bearers of the Ill Wind: The Bearers of the Ill Wind are the most hated priests of Maylar. Most Bearers are actually unconnected individuals or groups. The faction name is a name given to them by outsiders, not themselves. What unites the Bearers is theirdelight in spreading disease by both supernatural and mundane methods. Some groups and individuals spread disease indiscriminately. Others operate as extortionists, infecting a populace than offering healing services to the highest bidder.

    Herders of Men: The Herders of Men are the most benign of all of Maylar’s priests. Maylar is credited by many cultures with having given mortals the secrets of hunting and animal husbandry. Many involved in these professions do acknowledge him but don’t really worship Maylar much. The Herders of Men encourage Maylar worship amongst herders and hunters. They hardly ever “test” people by threatening their lives. Herders tend to be found in areas so dangerous to common people that such imposed tests are deemed unnecessary. The Herders of Men say if their congregations can handle the hard labor, the natural elements all the other threats hunters and herders endure, they are already strong enough.

    The Herders have the stated goal of making Maylar worship more socially acceptable, and they are fairly likely to offer their advice and clerical services with few or no strings attached. They have even begun extending their services to farmers provided the farmers live in a dangerous area and show a willingness to take a hand in their own defense. They do prescribe to tough love and don’t help those they deem incurably weak. Viewed as heretics by others of the priesthood, they are frequently given severe “testing” by other less benign Maylar priests. Despite this factional resistance, they are mostly thriving and gaining in numbers as their congregations grow.

    Nomadic Priests: A number of Maylar’s congregations are bands or tribes outside of civilization, often belonging to the monstrous races. In smaller groups the priests themselves are usually in charge. In larger groups they often act as an advisor or second-in-command to a mighty warlord. Sometimes it’s not clear who is in charge and there is an internal struggle of some sort. Bands and tribes with nomadic Maylar priests are known for their brutality and hostility towards civilization. Bands of highwaymen within civilized lands operate similarly.

    Decadents: The Decadents is one of many nicknames given to underground Maylar cults in civilized societies. Decadents are usually wealthy and jaded young nobles or merchant class who venerate Maylar secretly and perform heinous acts both to advance themselves socially and for the perverse thrill it gives them.


    Turoch Cults

    Some Scarterrans strangely enough choose to worship Turoch. As far as anyone knows, no Turoch cultist has ever cast a divine spell via Turoch.

    Greater Good Cults: Some speculate that life was better before the Rebellion that while there was no afterlife, their actual lives were idyllic. Fortunately no one who pondered that question had the daring to attempt to bring back Turoch. This sort of support for Turoch is more a philosophy than a cult. Academics and philosophers bringing up pro-Turoch viewpoints like this are usually merely derided and shunned from the halls of influence. In areas where Khemra’s Chruch holds unusually high sway, there is usually fines for publicly endorsing these view points, but in areas where Phidas’ Church is strong, the punishments are harsher though it’s seldom a capital crime.

    Nihilist Cults: For many expecting punitive afterlives, the oblivion of being consumed by Turoch would be considered preferable to an eternity of torment or enslavement which they believe is inevitable if they follow one or more of the Nine. Fortunately most people this concerned about their afterlives try to follow the tenets of one of the Nine promising a pleasant afterlife, rather than struggle for utter oblivion, but a few do seek oblivion. Others just like to see things destroyed. People of both groups sometimes have unite with the goal of resurrecting Turoch, sometimes through mystical research, sometimes they just hope they can bring Turoch back if they do enough damage to the temples of the Nine. No group has come remotely close to resurrecting Turoch yet.

    Any nihilistic cult can expect near universal opposition, though priesthoods don’t persecute them as much as you’d guess. It is widely believed by most priests that Turoch can never be raised and that these so-called cults are only a threat to the people they murder and are not a threat to cosmic order. Opposition to nihilists comes from secular governments more often than not.

    Trophy Seekers/Key Seekers: Each of the Nine took a piece of Turoch’s corpse and forged it into an artifact of immense divine power. Any following the story of the Rebellion will notice that a fair number of Turoch’s organs were not taken. Some seek the remote parts of the material plane and the far reaches of the outer planes for the remains of Turoch’s body believing that hold vast power or at least the potential for vast power. Varying accounts say that one who forges an item from one of Turoch’s organs (or merely possesses one) can become a god themselves. Others believe that a magical weapon of immense power is enough of an item to quest for. Those who seek out Turoch’s body parts are often given the nickname Trophy Seekers.

    Others hear the stories about the pristine and idyllic nature of the physical world before the Rebellion and some of the flaws in Creation that are said to be mistakes of the Nine’s early creation attempts. They seek the abilities of creation that Turoch lost, either to enrich and better the world, to increase their power, or merely out of curiosity. These seekers are collectively known as Key Seekers.

    Key Seekers and Trophy Seekers stretch across the entire alignment spectrum, depending on their motivations and methods for seeking what they do. Sometimes they are set up against one or more of the Nine’s Churches, especially those who want to become gods themselves. Sometimes they are actually sponsored by a (fringe) temple, such as Trophy Seekers who plan to boost their deity’s power by helping them get additionally divine artifacts for their patron or Key Seekers who want to expand their patron’s dominion. Trophy Seekers are almost universally opposed by the various priesthoods of the Nine given that similar meddling caused the Second Unmaking, but Key Seekers sometimes pop up as fringe groups within priesthoods or congregation.

    Turoch Emulators: These cults don’t really see any good in Turoch being in charge, but they respect the power he wielded. Some cults of people who are little more than thugs or bandits and they use imagery of Turoch in order to inspire fear in their victims and show contempt for the values of normal society. Others are far worse, seeking to become as much like Turoch as possible trafficking with demons and attempting to collect the souls of sentient beings in order to fuel their own lust for power. Few actually get to the point where they wield enough blasphemous power enough to be able to actually consume a soul, but many try. The clerics and flocks of the Nine take no chances and squash cults of Turoch Emulators whenever they find them. It’s not uncommon for rival Nine to actually work together in these efforts, or at least suspend hostilities until the Turoch cults are completely destroyed.

    The Godless Ones: The godless ones are the most likely of all Turoch cults to go through the motions of worshipping Turoch. Not so much out of genuine admiration for him or in hopes of winning his power but because doing so cheeses off the Nine like nothing else. There actual goal is a world with no gods at all.

    They resent the fact that the Nine’s constant struggles damage the world and either callously or patronizingly use mortals as the playing pieces in their struggle. Others simply resent all those who are far more powerful than they. A small dedicated number of the godless ones qualify for the ur-priest prestige class, but most don’t make it that far. Even Zarthus and Nami don’t take kindly to people with nothing but contempt for them though Greymoria and even Maylar are not above trying to manipulate godless ones against their more pro-establishment siblings.


    Traitor Cults



    Resurrection Cults: A few people try to discover a tenth ethical code that doesn’t conform to any of the Nine alignments but that has yet to bear fruit. Any and all traitor cults with teeth are resurrection cults. Try as the clerics of the Nine might, they haven’t been able to squash a legend. It is said that if eighty-one people chant the Traitor’s True Name eighty-one times in succession, the Traitor will be reborn. Not one of the eighty-one people can be forced or tricked nor can a single one of them be hesitant.

    It’s hard to find eighty-one people who whole-heartedly want to bring back someone who was willing to sell out every mortal on the planet to save his/her own skin. There is some speculation that the Traitors motivations may not have been purely self-serving and that if she came back, a tenth dominion would come with it enriching all of creation but there are relatively few people who think that the Traitor coming back would be a good thing. There’s plenty of difficulty gathering eighty-one people who actually want the Traitor to come back and want him/her to come back and are willing to risk the wrath of each of the Nine to do so.

    More importantly, no one seems to know what the Traitor’s given name was, to say nothing of his/her True Name and most people don’t even know where to start. The Nine oppose these cults with a fervor that makes some speculate that they believe resurrecting the Traitor is actually possible (though unlikely) and that resurrecting Turoch is not (since Turoch resurrection cults are almost ignored). While the lawful deities tend to be the most strident opponents of Turoch’s cults, the flocks of the Chaotic deities and Zarthus in particular are usually the first ones to respond against Traitor cults, especially Zarthus naturally.


    Crossover Cults: Some people seek resurrecting the Traitor as a prerequisite to raising Turoch. Such cultists believe that Turoch has great power but will consume all mortals upon returning and not rewarding those who helped him. Bringing the Traitor back first would theoretically give them an advocate. Thus most mortals would be consumed and the those who aided the Traitor and Turoch would be installed as the ruling class of the world, not unlike the Nine before the Rebellion. Many seek to resurrect the Traitor than Turoch because there is a well-known legend for bringing the Traitor back, but no one is sure how to resurrect Turoch. Presumably the Traitor would be the most likely being to know how to bring Turoch back (and be willing to share this information).


    Spirit Cults


    Much less feared than Turoch and Traitor cults. Spirit cults are actually pretty common. If a spirit decides to take or falls into the role of either a protector or tormentor of an area, it’s not uncommon for locals to begin placating said spirit with offerings, and all but the most sadistic spirits tend to respond positively to this. Benevolent spirits become more helpful and violent spirits spare their wrath.

    This is usually tolerated because the worship of the so called Little Gods is usually in addition to worshipping the Nine rather than instead of worshipping Nine. That and spirits are the direct children/servants of the Nine, so the Nine and their priests can’t really be too upset at it.
     
    Last edited: Sep 4, 2015
  3. Scalenex
    Slann

    Scalenex Keeper of the Indexes Staff Member

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    Part Three: Critters

    I doubt any of you would want to read me go through the Monstrous Manual’s entry by entry. Besides not every game system uses the same MM. At one point I went through the Monstrous Manuals I had access to and lumped them into categories: First, Second, and Third Age genesis as well Maybe Use and Not Use categories. But then I realized I shouldn’t limit myself too much. If I run a game, I don’t want close the possibility of using monster X. Here are some broad trends.


    If a Monster entry is neutral, not very intelligent, and basically just a supernatural animal or some kind of dangerous plant or fungus, assume it was a creature that evolved naturally during the First Age, unless it’s poorly equipped to survive the two Unmakings in which case it probably evolved later. Examples of these include Assassin Vines, Basilisks, Oozes, Carion Crawlers, Purple Worms, etc.

    Artificial creatures animated by spell casters, animated objects, golems, skeletons, and zombies. Assume Dragons were the pioneers of these “creatures,” and that Second and Third Age mortals picked up on.

    Greymoria and sometimes other deities created races just to harass or kill those they didn’t like. Most of them eventually got tired of a being cannon fodder and went their own way.

    Partial List of Races Created to Harass or Kill First Age Dragons: Kobolds, Chimera, Alboleths, Wights and Ghouls, (failed attempt re-released in Second Age), Destrachauns, Behirs

    Partial List of Races Created to Harass or Kill Second Age Elves (or other mortals): Aranea (spider people tight with Greymoria), Bullettes (Korus ecoterrorism), Displacer Beasts (made by Greymoria against Korus’ benign creatures), Ghouls and Ghasts, Trolls, Goblins (backfired when Elves decided to enslave Goblins into their workforce)

    Partial List of Races Created to Harass or Kill Third Age Humans (or other mortals): Orcs, Derro (Dwarf problem), Gnolls, Rust Monster (rare entrant from Nami to spite Hallisan), Cockatrice (Korus ecoterrorists)

    Sometimes one of the Nine wanted to make a race as a vanity project hoping to create living exemplars of their ideals. This didn’t always go according to plan. List is not exhaustive and many overlap with the punishment races above. For instance Nami empowered Satyrs not just to exemplify their behavior but to deliberately annoy stodgy mortals. Here's a partial list of some vanity races.

    Hallisan: Dwarves
    Mera: Gnomes
    Korus: Blink Dogs, Centaurs, Dryads, Unicorns, Griffins, and many more
    Nami: Satyrs
    Greymoria: Will’o’wisps
    Maylar: Trolls, Gnolls, Minotaurs, Orcs

    Sometimes creatures were created to aid the dominant races instead of hinder them

    Partial List of Races Created to Aid First Age Dragons: Ankhegs (fertilizing agents for crops), Drakes (non-working pets), Wyverns (herding pets), Delvers (miners), Beholders (watch dogs), giants (soldiers and laborers)

    Partial List of Races Created to Aid Second and Third Age Mortals: Pegasi, Dopplegangers (rebelled), Chokers (went feral)

    Sometimes races just pop up by accident. Experiments by spell-casters gone wrong (like the Gibbering Mouther), other times a spirit and a mortal mating will create a new terrestrial race, usually fey. The distant relations to spirits of the Nine is why fey are vulnerable to cold iron much like the spirits that are their forebears. Anything with "Half" in the name fits.

    Then there are a few “Release the Kraken” style monsters. Monsters that I like but I just can’t see them existing the world without devastating the ecosystem. While is the Terrasque is the most famous one, there are a bunch of monsters that eat or destroy everything in sight and we are supposed to except that there are multiples of these things? There wouldn’t be any room for peaceful things like unicorns and pegasi, let alone humans. But some monsters are just too cool not to use. So I figure most of the Nine have a metaphysical equivalent to a kennel in their divine realms. If the story requires a bad ass destructive monster (or juggernaut for Good) then the Nine (or one of their more powerful priests at least) can invite one into the material plane. They can do their thing, fight the PCs or deus ex machina their enemies away, then go back into their kennel. Just because the Monstrous Manual 3 says there’s some tundra with gobs and gobs of Monster X doesn’t mean I can’t say “Scarterra has one.” If it’s literally kept by a god I can handwave the no viable breeding population issue away.

    Undead origins are all over the place. Some were created by mortal necromancers as servants or cannon fodder. Some were created by Greymoria to punish mortals, some were created by the Demon Lords and their servants. Some are created by Greymoria priests working with her spirit servants. Some just show up, particularly undead that require very specific forms of death such as salt mummies, Drowned, ghosts, and allips. It’s unknown whether the first Lich was a Dragon or an Elf.

    If someone wants to adapt Scarterra to their own games, they can include or not include whatever MM entries they want. The biggest broad omission people may notice is extra-planars. “Outsiders” in Scarterra has been supplanted by “Spirits.” Basically a spirit is a servant created by the Nine in the that deity’s home realm. More on them later. Demons are technically spirits as well coming from Turoch instead of the Nine.

    Elemental are not truly “Outsiders” either. They are “Insiders.” When ambient magic levels rise either from global fluctuations But in areas were lots of spells were cast, elementals come to life out of the component element, then they “die” within minutes, hours, days, or weeks receding back into their birth element. Elementals are always present, they just are usually dormant.

    Only during the First Unmaking did any elementals manifest on Scarterra long-term. Enough spellcasters have researched random elementals that they can mimic the creation process in a controlled manner. That is how spellcasters can “summon” elementals temporarily.

    A specific omission you may notice is Halflings. Well, I see Halflings and Gnomes as being so similar I don’t really think Scarterra needs both. I like Gnomes better.

    Okay now I’m going to cover race entries that I put some depth into.

    Scarterran Satyrs

    Legends tell of a very stultifying and boring Elven kingdom during the Second Age ruled by a very uptight queen (think Footloose). The name and location of this kingdom changes with each telling. A core of Nami’s faithful took it upon themselves to make things interesting and greatly annoyed the uptight queen over and over again until her soldiers rounded up the merry-go-lucky trouble makers. Unfortunately, this queen was a powerful wizard. She made a decree.

    “If you wish to live as animals, animals you shall be.”

    The queen turned all the partiers into goats. Nami took pity on them and changed them back to elves, but the playful rebels insisted the bear a mark of the queen’s tyranny as a reminder of what they strive against. Hence the first Satyrs. Known for drunken debauchery even to this day.


    Scarterran Dopplegangers

    Early History

    Scarterran Dopplegangers’ precise origins are unknown. Dopplegangers are believed to be created by mortals rather than one of the Nine as Dopplegangers are rarely pious and none of the Nine claim them as their wayward children. It is widely believed they were created by an Elven Transmuter in the early centuries of the Second Age. Stories differ as to whether they were created wholecloth or mutated from Elves (or some other race).

    Details vary. Most Dopplegangers claim they were created as a slave race by the Second Age Elves but very quickly slipped the leash. Second Age historians do not dispute this, but they cannot find a definitive time or place for the Dopplegangers genesis or their rebellion.

    Dopplegangers flitted in and out of the many Elven kingdoms selling their services to the highest bidder or simply fleecing Elves as they saw fit. This generally made them unpopular to say the least. Only the unscrupulous or desperate willingly dealt with Dopplegangers. More than one kingdom had a policy of killing Dopplegangers on sight (though “sighting” them is never easy). This lead to Dopplegangers becoming insular and clannish.

    The Great Betrayal

    During the Second Unmaking, many Dopplegangers joined with the Demonic armies and served as spies and infiltrators. The extant of Doppleganger involvement is unclear. Doppleganger infiltration is hard to spot in the best of times and taking an accurate record of events was a low priority compared to survival for most would-be scribes.

    Most oral and written histories from Second Age mortals establish that most if not all of the Dopplegangers sided with the Demons. This was done to get vengeance on the Elves who persecuted them. It is believed that roughly half of the Demon collaborators were eventually consumed by the fickle Demons themselves. Given that Dopplegangers mix amongst themselves fairly often, all (or at least a vast majority of) modern Dopplegangers are all at least indirectly descended from these infernalists.

    Modern Dopplegangers tell the story differently. They say less than half of their kind rebelled. Most, if not all of the would-be infernalists acted under duress. As the Second Unmaking drew to a close, most of the “race traitors” were consumed by desperate Demons. The few survivors were then hunted down and slain by the righteous Dopplegangers who naturally sided with the mortal world, despite the poor treatment they received at the hands of the Elves. Thus, no modern Dopplegangers bear descent from these “race traitors” given that they were all destroyed. A claim somewhat dubious due to the fact that modern Dopplegangers occasionally show psionic ability, making Dopplegangers the only Second Age race that has the potential for psionic talent. Dopplegangers psionists and wilders very rarely broadcast these abilities since most who find out assume some sinister demonic origin rather than a faultless accident.

    Dopplegangers in the Third Age

    Dopplegangers are well remembered as Demon collaborators. A DC 15 Knowledge Arcana, the Planes, or History will reveal this much though no one knows the exact details of the extant of their infernalist actions. Even without this knowledge, people who live in disguise all the time are generally distrusted. There is also the problem that Dopplegangers are usually selfish and to outsiders, seem indistinguishable, so they are usually all tarred with the same brush. It’s fairly rare for ruling powers to pass laws that encourage free destruction of Dopplegangers (unless Dopplegangers slighted them personally in which case all bets are off).

    Dopplegangers, while selfish, are usually pretty loyal to their own kind. They have a (justifiable) fear that the entire world is out to get their race and this promotes solidarity. They rarely come to blows with each other. If they find by chance their schemes come into conflict, they will usually talk it out and come to a compromise. Most will usually take reasonable actions to aid their own kind if possible and some can will even take serious risks to aid their own.

    Dopplegangers are generally impious though some have impersonated pious people long enough that they “become the mask” and learn genuine respect for one or more of the Nine. When they bother to pray to one of the Nine, it could be for almost anyone depending on their life experiences though there is a slight bias for Korus, Mera, and Greymoria.

    Changelings (Inspired by the 3.5 Monster Manual III)

    Changelings are the result of when Dopplegangers mate with non-Dopplegangers. A Doppleganger that conceives a child with a Human, Elf, has roughly 90% chance to produce a Changeling and about a 10% of creating a “normal” Human or Elf (or even a Half-Elf if they impersonated something else), and about a 1% chance of creating a “normal” Doppleganger.

    Half-Elves are similar but they have a 5% chance of creating a Doppleganger and only a 5% chance of producing a normal Human or Half-Elf. Half-Humans or Half-Elves that are not human and half elven also have 90% chances of creating changelings and 5% chances of creating normal Dopplegangers or “normal” half-breeds, but conceptions very rarely occur.

    Changelings mating with other Changelings always produce Changelings. Changelings mating with Humans, Elves, or Half-Elves create Changelings about half the time and members of the other parent’s race about the half the time. A Changeling and a Doppleganger mating will produce a Changeling 80% of the time and a Doppleganger 20% of the time.

    A Changeling of Elven ancestry and one of Human ancestry have the same game mechanics and are almost impossible to distinguish if the Changeling doesn’t tell you (assuming he or she even knows). Most Changelings are of Human ancestry. It is believed that the Changelings of the Second Age were all exterminated in retribution for their parents infernalist actions (or they were sold out to demons by their parents).

    Changelings are generally distrusted almost much as full Dopplegangers and they have less ability to hide their true nature. Dopplegangers vary widely in how they treat Changeling ranging the full gamut from full family loyalty to utter contempt. As the MMIII describes, Changelings either blend in anonymously with another society or form small clans within a society. Clans are based on mutual protection and friendship more than blood ties.

    Changelings have at least the same likelihood of developing psionic powers as Humans, if not more so.


    Scarterran Kobolds

    Kobolds were one of the first races specifically created by the Nine after the Rebellion. Most Kobolds claim to be the first race so created or at least the oldest one still around today. Given the similarities between them and Dragons, as well as their innate talent for sorcery, all kobolds proudly declare draconic heritage. Most kobolds fall into one of the three cultural groups below, each with completely different genesis story.

    Whatever rule set you are using I suggest you up the stats of Scarterran Kobolds above the fantasy game norm to make them less wimpy. I strongly suggest you give the an enhanced sense of smell or much of what I’ve written here doesn’t work.

    Most Kobolds live in tight knit clans. Clans sometimes these clans operate on their own but they usual band together to form larger tribes. The clans in a larger tribe periodically meet to exchange marriage partners and trade but this is not strictly necessary.

    Each tribe and clan has their own culture and norms, but nearly every Kobold clan considers themselves Tiamalan, Laershin, or Gilgren. The three groups are virtually biologically identical. Despite this, it is rare for the three Kobold cultures to ally with each other or intermarry, the Gilgren and Laershin haven’t worked closely together since the Second Unmaking when Kobolds had to unite against the Annihilator. Kobolds tend to be migratory and the race has been on Scarterra for so long that all three Kobold cultures can be found somewhere on every major continent.

    Like the Dragons they claim kinship with, Kobolds seem to have little if any issues with inbreeding (though since a large portions of newborns fail their birthing trek, inbred Kobolds may weed themselves out). A clan of fifty can go several generations without bringing in foreign marriage partners to no ill effect. Also like Dragons, gender roles in Kobold society are mostly androgynous. There is no division of labor or status along gender lines. Kobolds are generally communal in outlook. They tend to sleep in mass huddles, and they raise their children collectively.

    Kobolds usually are monogamous and tend to mate for life. A small number of tribes with more status differentiation than the norm have some leaders who practice polygamy and polyandry, but this is rarely exceeds two or three mates. Widows and widowers rarely take new mates, but there is social pressure to do so if the Kobolds in question are still in their reproductive years during a time when tribal members are low in numbers (a common problem with the Gilgren).

    Females in a tribe tend to go into heat at roughly the same time, so eggs are laid at about the same time and they hatch at about the same time. Eggs are placed in communal nests and left some distance away from the tribal encampment. A pheromone trail is left leading from the nest to the tribal camp and the hatching young will instinctively follow the scent trail back to their people. This is the first and most important rite of passage in a Kobold’s life. In Kobold society, a Kobold isn’t truly a Kobold until they proved they can survive the journey known in Kobold society as “the birthing trek.” Kobolds take no action to aid their hatchlings versus natural hazards, including predators, believing they need to succeed or fail on their own merits. If an outside force is attacking the birthing trek Kobolds maliciously, the adult Kobolds do viciously defend their trekking hatchlings.

    Kobolds have very efficient digestive systems. They can digest almost any animal or vegetable matter. They can safely consume, but not digest, a wide variety of inorganic matter. In small doses, it is both healthy and therapeutic to clean their insides that way. Many have tribes have ritualized these often going to the same site regularly to pick just the right stones to eat. They tell many of their stories about their draconic forebears while emulating the draconic ability to eat minerals, or at least ingest them.

    Kobolds speak Draconic but the Kobold dialect is considered to be simplistic and primitive by most Draconic speakers who believe the Kobold dialect lacks nuance. This is untrue. Kobolds can add a wealth of subtext to their communication via pheromones. Dragons have the olfactory ability to pick this up if they study Kobolds for a few years, but most other Draconic speakers don’t have the acute sense of smell necessary to fully comprehend the subtext of what Kobolds are saying. Geographically disparate tribes of Kobolds may have different words for things that emerged after the First Age, but their ability to understand each other is remarkable compared to other races abilities to communicate with kin thousands of miles away. Their facility with Draconic (and scent based communication) is as much instinctual as learned.

    Scarterran Kobolds have no beef with Gnomes. Kobolds have no racial enemies really. If a particular clan is competing with Dwarves for living space than that clan obviously has a problem with Dwarves, but a hundreds of miles away, another tribe of Kobolds could be friendly trading partners with a Dwarf hold.

    Tiamalan Kobolds: According to the Tiamlan’s stories, the Dragon queen Tiamat and her followers somehow betrayed the whole Dragon race and the Nine. As punishment for their sins, these Dragons were turned into the first Kobolds. The most common story is Tiamat tried to resurrect the Traitor. Kobolds can reclaim their ancient heritage through atonement. Those Kobolds who live well are reincarnated into Kobolds with luckier circumstances. Kobold sorcerers or favored souls are considered the epitome of a positive reincarnation. Kobold sorcerers and favored souls who live well are reincarnated as Dragons though the standards are very high indeed and more end up losing their powers in their next incarnation than becoming Dragons (or so they say, no non-Kobold has definitively tracked a reincarnation). They also believe that any change in their incarnation effects their family members to a degree and to even the whole Kobold race to a further extant. Tiamalans believe that in order to redeem themselves and the Kobold race, they have to win the favor of each of the Nine.

    As the highest possible living incarnations in Kobold society, much deference is given to sorcerers and favored souls. Tiamalan tribes follow the leadership of Favored Souls above all else for spiritual guidance. They tend to rely on sorcerers to lead their war parties, defense forces, and negotiations. Both sorcerers and favored souls tend to follow the advice of the elders when making day-to-day decisions.

    Tribes strive try to serve whichever of the Nine has sent them a favored soul most recently. If a tribe goes more than two generations without a favored soul they declare Phidas as their patron (since Phidas has no favored souls). Should a single tribe have two favored souls at one time, they take it as a sign from the gods that the time has come to split into two clans. The one value they hold universally regardless of who they are following is a strong sense of loyalty. To their families, tribes, and race as a whole.

    Tiamalan Kobolds tend to migrate a lot, but they will put down roots if a favored soul believes doing so well help their current divine patron. Tiamalans get along well within other Tiamalan tribes when they meet even if their divine patrons are at odds with each other. Tiamalans try to stay out of the way of other races though occasionally they will try to integrate with them or oppose them if a favored soul believes that will help serve the cause of one of the Nine. They generally believe that spreading the will of the Nine to the other races (especially Humans) will help them relieve their collective karmic debt faster. Because Dragons represent the highest level one can reincarnate to on the material plane, most Tiamalans will listen to whatever a Dragon says. There are enough campfire stories of Dragons taking advantage of Kobolds that they won’t serve Dragons unquestionably, but a subtle Dragon can push a Kobold tribe pretty far.

    Tiamalans believe the Gilgrens narrow following of Greymoria’s anti-social tendencies just digs them deeper into a karmic hole and weakens the Tiamalans efforts to spiritually better the Kobold race. They may pity the Gilgrens, but this doesn’t cause them to lower their guard against them. If they aren’t following Greymoria, Korus, or Phidas at the moment, Tiamalan tribes tend to give Gilgren tribes a wide birth and sleep with one eye open when their violent kin are near.

    Tiamalan Kobolds view Laershin Kobolds as slightly misguided cousins, but cousins none the less. Laershin Kobolds worship Phidas or Mera, and Tiamalans follow Phidas and Mera fairly often. They believe when Phidas is ready to redeem the Kobold race that the Laershins and Tiamalans will unite. They try to outreach to Laershin when they meet. Laershin are generally not very welcoming but the Tiamalans don’t give up. They believe their spiritual quest won’t be complete until all Kobolds redeem themselves. If they can bring the Laershin into the fold, they feel that they will be in a better position to rehabilitate the Gilgren.

    Laershen Kobolds: According to the Laershin, pair of Dragons worshipping Greymoria willing spawned a hundreds of Kobolds instead of a litter of Dragon hatchlings. They willingly did this so that Greymoria could have new race to assail the Dragons who didn’t worship her. The Laershen Kobolds believe that their descendants are those who rebelled against the cannon fodder role assigned to them. They took their name after the legendary Kobold hero, Laeresh. Laershen Kobold assume other Kobolds are either willing or ignorant pawns of Greymoria.

    Laershin are not very spiritually deep. Laershin favored souls are rare (and many of them end up joining the Tiamalans). Religious observances (what little they have) are usually carried out by the elders. Those who live above ground tend to gravitated towards worshpping Mera, those below ground gravitate towards Phidas. Laershin Kobolds spend a single day a year honoring the rest of the Nine, except for Greymoria. They tend to view Greymoria as the source of all their woes.

    Laershin respect the strength that PC class holders bring to the tribe but they don’t give them obedience. They provide their unique abilities for the good of the tribe just like every other Kobold should do with his or her talents. Laershin tribes are either led by the eldest member or a council of elders (depending on just how confident and charismatic the eldest member is). The elders usually appoint a war chief. Typically a warrior who is middle aged, sometimes a sorcerer or other PC class holder. The war chief is typically given full control by the elders in times of crisis though the elders can take back the reins of leadership whenever they choose.

    Laershin are very territorial. They are the only Kobold culture that commonly builds permanent settlements whenever able, usually underground. Even migratory clans usually have a permanent Winter encampment and very predictable migration patterns.

    The Laershin are acutely aware that the Kobolds are not a power players in Scarterra. They give other races a wide berth when possible. They aren’t above negotiating with other races or even paying tribute (or demanding tribute if they have the upper hand). They prefer to negotiate with non-Human and non-demi-Humans whenever possible expecting less prejudice. It’s common for a Laershin tribe to serve as a Dragon’s eyes and ears in exchange for protection from a Dragon (in both the benevolent and mafia definitions of “protection”). As fellow descendants of former Dragon slaves, Laershin Kobolds tend to be one of the few races that Beholders will lower themselves to work with (though the Kobolds know they have to lay flattery down pretty thick with Beholders). The Laershin are pragmatic, but they are not cowards and will defend their territory versus interlopers by violence if don’t believe they have a better option.

    While not overtly hostile, the Laershin view the Tiamalans as naïve fools. “If you try to follow all the Nine you end up finding none of them” sums up their beliefs. Laershin generally rebuff the friendly overtures of their Tiamalan “cousins,” but they will work together in dire situations. If a tribe of Laershin Kobolds is ousted from their home and unable to retake it, the homeless tribe will often seek out a tribe of Tiamalans to provide them with strength in numbers until the Tiamalans migrations chance onto a new area suitable for a new home. Under normal circumstances, the more territorial Laershin will politely ask Tiamalans that they meet to move along fairly quickly. While cooperation between Laershin and Tiamalans is fairly rare, violence between them is rarer still.

    There is no cold politeness extended to Gilgren Kobolds. The Laershin view the Gilgren as willing slaves of Greymoria and traitors to their race. In addition to the ancient grudge, the Laershin believe that the Gilgren give the Kobold race a collectively bad name. All Kobolds look alike to most other races, and the Laershin believe (with good reason) that the Gilgren are ultimately to blame for the innate hostility most Humanoid races hold for them. If the Laershin find Gilgren in their territory they will try to gage the interlopers’ strength and either kill them, drive them away or hide, calling in favors with allies if necessary. Sometimes they’ve managed to eke out temporary get along to go along agreements when two tribes meet, but Gilgren and Laershin have not worked together amiably since the Second Unmaking.

    Gilgren Kobolds: According to the Gilgren, the first Dragons may have helped Hallisan and the other Nine save Scarterra from being eaten by Turoch, but their descendants were corrupt bullies. The Kobolds are the second oldest race alive today because the Dragons exterminated any new race that emerged. Greymoria couldn’t stand for this. Working with Phidas and Korus they fashioned a new race from the flesh of the corpse of a particularly despotic Dragon king, Gilgraesh (who was murdered by his own son) and reanimated his flesh into the first Kobolds. With the cunning and power of their Dragon blood they were able to avoid the Dragon’s notice until they grew numerous and organized enough that they could survive a genocide attempt. They even managed to kill no small number of Dragons by the time of the first Unmaking.

    They helped weaken the Dragons enough to allow the other races to flourish, including the Elves. The Elves in their hubris hunted the kobolds and other races besides in their attempt to emulate the Dragons and rule the entire world with an iron fist. They faced an Unmaking just like the Dragons did. The Humans are no better and will fair the same. The Kobolds survived the Age of Dragons, they survived the Age of Elves, and the Gilgren Kobolds intend to watch happily as Human civilization collapses and the ragged survivors have to watch someone else rule.

    A few Gilgrens believe that they can rule the next age, but most are settling for surviving and continuing to be the world’s second oldest race. A few Gilgren tribes speak of an age where no one race dominates and the races live in their own territories leaving each other alone: not ideal, but a vast improvement over the current situation. Gilgren Kobolds gravitate towards Greymoria who they view as their creator and patron. Korus is also fairly popular. While the depth of worship of Korus is far less than Greymoria, they are more likely to pray to him on a daily basis as his purview includes the natural world that they need to survive in.

    Of all the Kobold cultures, Gilgren most closely resemble the entry in the Monstrous Manual. They hate most other races and generally attack them, rob them, enslave them, and eat them whenever they perceive the odds are in their favor.

    Because of their raiding lifestyle, the Gilgrens are the most nomadic of all the Kobold cultures. They regularly have to move on because they’ve depleted an area or have become a large enough nuisance to the other races that they warrant an organized response. They tend to suffer more violent deaths than other Kobolds and this has affected their society. They put less effort on mating for life and more emphasis on the importance of continuing their race. They still observe the “birthing trek,” but they generally place their nests a lot closer to their camp than the Laershin or Tiamalans, indecently close the standards of the other two Kobold cultures).

    Gilgren tribes tend to follow the leadership of whoever is most personally powerful, usually the most potent sorcerer. It’s noted that Gilgren tribes have noticeably more sorcerers than the other Kobold tribes. They claim it’s due to Greymoria’s blessing, but a few scholars who have studied Kobolds have established that Gilgren sorcerers tend to be fairly weak physically. Among other Kobold tribes, sorcerers-to-be are often the last ones to make it to camp. It is speculated that a disproportionate number of would-be sorcerers die on the birthing trek.

    Gilgren are generally hostile to other races, but they are not mindlessly hostile. They will try to scout out potential targets near them. They will weigh their options gaging the strength of their potential targets, the potential for loot, the potential for reprisals, and make sure to have an exit strategy. While their avenues to make contact are limited, Gilgren Kobolds will try to establish trading relationships with mercenary minded non-Kobolds to fence things they steal that they can’t immediately use. They also have allied directly with Greymoria friendly groups but these alliances tend to be short-lived.

    All other factors being equal, they will attack a non-Human before a Human. This isn’t because they like Humans, but this is because Humans are more numerous than the other races and more likely to have retaliating kin. They figure as the dominant race Humans will be hard to topple until the Third Unmaking hits. After (or during) the Third Unmaking, the Gilgren plan to really let loose all their pent up hostility and let Humanity face their well-deserved wrath.

    The Gilgren love to hunt Dragons, but they rarely have the power to make a serious attempt at Dragon hunting unless they can isolate Dragon is young. Sometimes young Dragons escape, and come back to wreak vengeance on the Kobold tribe generations later. By this point the Kobolds don’t remember why this Dragon is angry at them, and it looks unprovoked. This spawns general Dragon-hatred amongst the survivors perpetuating the cycle.

    Gilgren Kobolds will attempt to recruit tribes of Tiamalans they meet if they are currently following Greymoria or one of the Nine currently friendly with Greymoria, but they are prone to attack them otherwise. In lieu of a direct attack, Gilgren are well known to attack a powerful non-Kobold force and then create a false trail to the nearest Tiamalan tribe. In recent generations this enmity has softened. Nowadays, Gilgren Kobolds are more likely than not to give Tiamalans a free pass (unless Mera is a particular tribe’s patron in which case all bets are off). Serious losses fighting the Humans in recent generations has convinced most Gilgren leaders that they can’t afford to fight their own kind.

    The Gilgren have also reduced their hostilities against the Laershin Kobolds. The Laershin have long memories and are not about to forget all the times they suffered due to the actions of the Gilgren either directly at their hands or as a result of being blamed for Gilgren atrocities against the other races. The Laershin usually have the home court advantage and often have allies with an anti-Gilgren understanding. Even the most far-reaching nomadic Gilgren tribes tend to make a note of where all known Laershin territories are, so they can avoid them. If they willingly enter a Laershin territory, it’s usually in great force of arms or with a substantial bribe.

    Scarterran Giants

    It is unclear whether Giants were created by Dragons or the Nine, but Giants have existed since the First Age and served as slaves or servants to the Dragons. The distinction between slave and servant depends on the take of the modern Dragon or First Age historian you are asking. Modern Giants speak their own dialect of Low Draconic. All Giants are humanoid, but they do not look like large humans or demi-humans.


    Brute Giants: Brute Giants are covered in fur. They resemble very large sasquatches. Their fur is usually brown individuals range anywhere between blond fur and black fur. They normally do not wear clothing, though many wear simple jewelry, often made from fairly common materials like wood and bone. They average around 11 feet tall and weigh around 1200 pounds. Despite the name, Brute Giants are generally not very brutish.

    Dragon historians state that Brute Giants were lowly physical laborers during the First Age. Whether as a result of their genesis or generations of conditioning, they are generally skittish and timid despite their size and physical might.

    Left to their own devices, they generally prefer forested mountains where they hunt. They tend to travel in family units of between four and twenty giants. They are usually in contact with 1d8 other giant families.

    They generally avoid combat and take direction well. Perfect laborers, too perfect in fact. Even in the modern age, they often end up enslaved to dragons or even smaller humanoids. They won’t kowtow to beings they can clearly pulverize, but they will avoid a fight that’s likely to have one or more of their group killed even if the Giant group as a whole is likely to win. They will fight if their young are seriously harmed or killed, but a cunning being or group without scruples can get a lot of free labor by threatening their young. Less brutal beings often hire Brute Giants to perform labor for them, they work pretty cheap. They like alcoholic beverages and Giant sized manufactured items, especially musical instruments.

    Once in a while a band will be pushed too far by their enslavers and revolt against the treatment. More likely they are rescued by an external group or what the birth of what they call “dragon auspice” giant. Dragon auspice giants do not have the pacifistic instincts of their main fellows and they usually have a PC class. They often set themselves up as chieftains. Sometimes dominating other Giants as thoroughly as slavers might, other times acting as a benevolent protector. Sometimes dragon auspice Brute Giants become loners, usually violent loners that act like true brutes against smaller races. Sometimes dragon auspice Giants are made not born. A Giant that survives enough bitter and painful experiences can have the pacifism beaten out of them. These Dragon aspect Giants rarely choose to act as benevolent protectors.


    Scale Giants: Though warm blooded, Scale Giants are covered in reptilian-like scales. Most of them are reddish brown, but they come in various shades of gray or purple as well. Their teeth the sharp fangs of a natural carnivore and their claws are fairly large though they can’t effectively use bite or claw attacks in combat, instead attacking with weapons or their fists. They are fully humanoid and do not have tails.

    Dragon historians state that Scale Giants were used as shock troops during the First Age. Whether as a result of their genesis or generations of conditioning, they are easily the most belligerent and aggressive of the Giants.

    They tend to roam in bands which are extended family units of between four and twelve members (a third of whom are children). Scale Giant bands tend to follow the direction of a chieftain, the most powerful Giant in the local area. Chieftains control the nominal loyalty of between ten and a two hundred other adult Giants. Scale Giants tend to have a firmly established pecking order determined by brawls. Generally everyone knows which Giants they are stronger than they are and which ones they are weaker then. They carry this bullying culture to other races.

    Scale Giants are generally territorial staking out an area for hunting and robbing or demanding tribute from intelligent beings who wander across what they perceive as their lands. If they are near the lands of smaller beings, they probably undergo small scale raids for food, slaves, or plunder. They will enslave almost anyone to do menial work, as much for the joy of dominating a weaker being than for the actual labor. Young Dragon slaves are prized above all others, but of course many dragons are stronger than they are and can easily turn the tables on them.

    Scale Giant chiefdoms tend to go on semi-predictable war cycles. They mostly keep to themselves until the population grows to outstrip their home area’s ability to sustain them. A chief (or a would-be rival of a chief trying to stake out new territory) will then lead a large scale raids against the local smaller races. Eventually they take enough losses that another Giant challenges the chief or the chief dies fighting smaller races The new chief will declare the dead chief a fool and have the reduced tribe call off their attack on the outnumbering smaller races and fall back to their old territories. They then mostly keep to themselves until their population expands yet again years later. Scale Giants also serve under serve as mercenaries or even allies to other races if the being in question is good at flattery and intimidation so the Giants don’t simply decide to rob their would-be employer.


    Sea Giants: Sea Giants are humanoids with slightly webbed hands and feet. They are covered with fish like scales, usually of a soft green or blue. They tend to fall between the size variants of Brute and Scale Giants. They also fall between Brute and Scale Giants in temperament. They are not truly aggressive or passive. Because of this they are viewed as the most intelligent giants.

    They can breathe in the water or on land. They can survive on land without ill effect as long as they submerge themselves for at least an hour every two days. Most prefer to live under water nearly full time. The hunt, they fish (hunting and fishing being pretty much the same to them) and they build dwellings rather than seek out cave or make crude lean-tos like their land dwelling brethren. A few practice cultivation of edible sea plants.

    Of all the former servant races of the Dragons, the Sea Giants are the most likely to serve Dragons today. Most don’t serve Dragons but they are willing to listen to Dragon requests as long as they are treated fairly (or if the Dragon is powerful enough to destroy the entire clan without half trying).

    The so-called Dragon Confederation, a weak but passable attempt to relive the glories of the First Age actually has more Sea Giants in it than Dragon. Both the Sea Giants and the Aquatic Dragons they serve under have staked out a stretch of water. When ships pass over it, they demand tribute. Most pay it because they don’t want to fight Dragons. The Confederation in turn keeps their tribute requirements fairly light. They have a lot of water territory to cover. One Dragon and four or five Giants cannot stand against 100 well-armed and equipped Human or demi-human monster hunters.


    Trolls: Scarterran Trolls are functionally identical to the entry in the Monstrous Manual. They are found in almost every climate and environment and will kill and eat almost any animal. They travel alone or in small bands. Like other giants they speak low Draconic though Draconic scholars often joke that Trolls speak “unsurpassably low” Draconic.

    The details of their genesis are unknown because the Trolls don’t bother with their history. The civilized worlds has paid little enough attention to them, so it’s unclear whether they debuted in the First or Second Age or how and why they were created. Almost every region has their own folklore for where Trolls came from. A popular store is that they devolved from Brute or Scale Giants somehow.

    It is largely assumed that Maylar created them or had a hand in creating them since they seem to embody his principles of the strong overtaking the weak. Unlike many of Greymoria’s creations, Trolls are not vindictive and don’t attack Humans, Elves, or other beings out of spite, they attack them when they are hungry or threatened. Though they are hungry most of the time, and they take slight easily. Trolls are generally impious beings but some pay lip service to Maylar providing further evidence that he had a hand in creating them.

    A handful of warlords have managed to intimidate or bribe Trolls into joining their militias, but this is uncommon. Sometimes an unusually intelligent Troll manages to bully other creatures into joining the Troll’s battles, but never on a very large scale. For the most part Trolls are a menace in the wilderness and frontiers and not a player in the world’s political struggles.

    Scarterran Vampires

    In the Second Age, few Elves were more potent than Malthian. He was a powerful wizard both mystically and politically. He served as vizier to three successive monarchs. He served his lieges providing sage advice and solving problems as a magical trouble shooter. Malthian was a staunch foe of the undead for most of his life, but Malthian was growing very old and Mathian’s ego was such that he believed the kingdom would fall without his assistance. He undergone the forbidden ritual to become a liche to preserve his life. Then he used illusions to impersonate a normal living Elf.

    Since undeath helped the kingdom by keeping him alive, he figured further undeath research would help the kingdom more. He envisioned a world where undead warriors could handle all of his kingdom’s fighting, so as to not to endanger the living. Some living people had to die to help his research but his efforts would ultimate save lives in the long run.

    Suspicion stemming from Malthian’s unusually long lifespan led people to begin digging. They uncovered his dark experiments trying to create new undead soldiers and revealed Malthian’s new condition as a liche. He had to fight his way to safety killing many his own countrymen. Malthian believed his experiments were reasonable and would have been accepted if he were not a lich. Malthian believed he was typecast as being evil for simply for being a lich.

    It made sense to Malthian, it takes great strength to keep ones morals intact after becoming a lich and most spell casters didn’t have Malthian’s peerless strength of character. Therefore all the other liches were clearly evil. Once in exile, he began researching the spiritual decay lesser mortals suffered after becoming liches. He also began hunting down and killing dangerous liches (all but his himself). The two goals combined with him looting the libraries and laboratories of vanquished liches to aid his research.

    He destroyed four liches and captured one before other liches became threatened enough to overcome their innate distrust and band together against him. The cooperative efforts were still strained by the liches’ distrust of each other, all of them were willing to throw the others to Malthian if necessary. Malthian was able to destroy three more liches. He defeated liches far more often than that this, but he was generally thwarted from destroying or capturing their phylacteries. Eventually an organized effort against him succeeded, forcing Malthian to abandon (and detonate) his primary sanctum. He chose to abandon his crusade against inferior liches and laid low for about a century. When Malthian was no longer a clear threat, the alliances of convenience against him splintered and the remaining liches went back to their independent ways. Then the Second Unmaking happened. Energy draining nihilistic demons crossed the Barrier in untold thousands and brought the civilizations of the Second Age to ruin.

    Malthian realized his belief that his kingdom couldn’t survive without him was wrong, it was really the whole of Scarterra that needed him. After a few skirmishes with demons, he decided his ability to smite demons with spells was insufficient to thwart demons when the demon hordes could augment their strength by turning their energy drained victims into undead slaves. He began research into immunizing people from energy drains. His plan was to create a living/undead hybrid, immune to both negative energy and the corruption that undead conditions typically inflicted on people.

    While most of the living wizards battled demons and most of the undead liches were trying to either steal demon power or were still plotting against Malthian, Malthian was locked in his laboratories. He experimented on bound demons and periodically made expeditions to explore the Near and Far Void (fairly safe at this time since very few Demons stayed in the Void with the Barrier between worlds broken). He also kidnapped living Elves and a few members of other races to experiment on. He made sure to use mortals that would have just been probably consumed by demons anyway, so Malthian was morally justified. In the long run, he was saving lives really.

    While Malthian was locked away in his labs, the last demon lord was slain and the Second Unmaking was officially over. Much later Malthian finally succeed in creating his desired living/undead hybrid but he was centuries too late for it to impact the Second Unmaking. Malthian made his breakthrough when Humans were already well on their way to displacing the Elves as the dominant race of Scarterra. That didn’t bother Malthian much. The Humans would need his help even more than the Elves did, and demons were still entering Scarterras in small numbers. It was only a matter of time before they came back in force. He figured that given the power seeking nature of most spell-casters they were more prone to losing their moral center (except for Malthian of course), so he decided to create undead warriors in lieu of undead spellcasters.

    Malthian wanted to create self-sustaining undead warriors but eventually conceded that it was impossible to create free-willed soldiers that didn’t require some kind of sustenance. These warriors required the blood of the living. Malthian decided that was acceptable. The loss of a few humans and demihumans would be a small sacrifice compared to the thousands more the vampires could protect. He began impersonating a (living) human wizard and began searching for highly skilled warriors of great moral character, preferably those with experience fighting demons (who will still a frequent threat even though the demon lords were long since dead). Malthian was careful to select soldiers who would do be able to do more good with their abilities than their hunger for blood would cause them to do harm (or so he believed).

    Malthian created an artifact called the Blood Stone to facilitate a mortal’s transformation into a vampire. Eventually one vampire discovered that he could pass the vampiric condition onto progeny without using the Blood Stone. Malthian destroyed both sire and childe and forbid unauthorized creation of new vampires. Only vampires created through the Blood Stone were allowed and he controlled the Blood Stone.

    His vampires didn’t get much time for do-gooding before at least one of Malthian’s lich enemies penetrated Malthian’s anti-scrying defenses and finally discovered what he was doing. He also discovered that the vampires were not nearly as magically protected from spying as he was. After spying on his vampire lieutenants, the rival lich recruited a suitable vampiric turncoat.

    Malthian was set up and destroyed, along with his phylactery and several of his vampiric minions. The Blood Stone was missing, and presumed destroyed. Vralic, Ralark, Lorshellis, and Vladimir survived. Most of them started broods of vampires, though the progeny they created were far less powerful than themselves. The four original vampires are said to be immune to most of the traditional banes of vampires including sunlight.


    Vladimir the Conqueror: Vladomir’s was a tribal chieftain of an early human tribe decimated by demon attacks. He gained Malthian’s attention after leading the battered survivors of his tribe in a mission of vengeance on the demons that wiped out their kin. He also had a view of the strong needing to rule the weak for their own good which Malthian approved of.

    After Malthian’s death, Vladimir declared that with most of the demons gone, their role should be to shepherd mortals rather than simply fighting their battles for them. The other vampires were either indifferent or hostile to his words. Vladimir was the first vampire to sire new childer after Malthian’s death. He was also by far the most prolific of all the original vampires siring more vampires than all his siblings combined. To be true to Malthian’s vision, Vladimir and his elite army of vampires would impose his vision of order on the entire world. For over a century he conquered all before him, provoking most of Scarterra’s mortal nations to unite against him.

    Despite many setbacks, Vladimir seemed to be slowly wearing down his opposition. His conquests land holdings exceeded that of any single mortal nation in the Third Age. Complete world conquest seemed achievable as he turned the most powerful members of his living opposition into new vampiric vassals. It was at this point that Ralark finally caught up to him and slew him.

    Vladimir’s childer could not agree on who Vladimir’s successor should be and they formed factions around the strongest and the vampire nation was split by civil war. No vampire petty lord could achieve dominance over the others. Mortals that formerly were formerly fleeing and hiding from Vladimir’s forces took advantage of the vampire civil war to topple his vassals. The vampires did not stop fighting amongst themselves even in the face of a unified mortal opposition. More vampires died at the hands of their own kind than by the hands of mortals. Ralark and Lorshellis also picked off Vladimir’s brood whenever they could be found. Vladimir’s vampire kingdom was destroyed in less than a century.

    Beset on too many sides, the surviving Vladimiran vampires scattered to the four winds either setting up petty fiefdoms in very isolated locales or impersonating living humans in isolated areas. Despite all their losses Vladimir bloodline still vastly outnumbers the other blood lines.

    Vladimir’s Lineage Mechanics: Whatever game system you are using, use the default vampire rules.


    Vralic the Dark Hunter: Vralic changed his name after the reality of his new condition became apparent. His original name is known by no one today apart from Vralic himself and maybe the other surviving vampire lords. He was originally a Sylvan Elf ranger, said to be the last solitary survivor of a tribe wiped out by demons. His tribe believed that those who died an honorable death in battle would get a blessed afterlife. After his transformation he became utterly obsessed with seeking an honorable death in battle. After Malthian’s death, he entered the Near Void seeking to slay every demon he could find with the hope that one of the demons could best him in combat. Unfortunately, with no blood to be had in the Void, he couldn’t travel far from Scarterras since a death by starvation would not be honorable. To compound issues, the demons were indifferent at best to fighting him since he had no life energy to siphon away.

    After over a century of not finding any worthy challenges this way, Malthian traveled to the realms of some of the Nine. Maylar promised to give Vralic the secret to his honorable death in battle if he could defeat Maylar’s champion. Vralic beat said champion in an epic dual. Maylar told Vralic that he would one day meet his warrior’s death in single combat with a mortal. All other circumstances would be fail to produce an honorable death.

    Vralic set up a territory around a forested area surrounding the appropriately named the Challenge Cliffs. Vralic stalks the area for prey and guards his territory. On certain days of the year, Vralic reveals himself to would-be challengers. Everyone loses, but if Vralic deems a challenger put a good fight, he turns him/her into vampire instead of killing them outright. The details of Vralic’s saga are known to few. The savage tribes near the Challenge Cliffs know that if they go there and fight well the “Dark Hunter” will make them stronger. By this point the thought of beating Vralic doesn’t actually cross the minds of most challengers though Maylar will supposedly bless whoever beats him, most of his challengers simply want to become vampires.

    Vralic’s progeny rarely if ever create vampires of their own. Some say Vralic hunts down and destroy unauthorized grand childer and their makers, others say that his childer are sterile. They usually become lone agents of destruction or they rise to positions rulership of small warlike groups. Vralic’s progeny are usually but not always warriors form uncivilized lands (few fighters from civilized nation have even heard of the Challenge Cliffs, much less would want to seek them out).

    Vralic’s Lineage: Take the base vampire rules and reduce or remove the mental powers. Boost the physical powers to compensate.


    Ralark the Loyalist: Ralark was the first warrior to be undergo transformation from the Bloodstone. A human fighter of legendary skill and bravery, believed to be a non-inheriting son of an early king. After Malthian’s death, he dedicated himself to seeking vengeance on Malthian’s behalf. He personally struck down two ancient elven liches but remains convinced his master’s betrayer is still at large.

    After fruitless searching for evil liches and his treacherous vampire siblings, Ralark decided to move to enforcing Malthians edicts. He spent centuries hunting down demons whenever he could find them. When he couldn’t find demons, he targeted lesser vampires (since their creation was never authorized by Malthian). On rare occasions, he has intervened against other creatures that Ralark decides are evil based on their action.

    When he has a choice of prey, he prefers to feed on the most morally reprehensible prey he can find, or the very old (who were about to die anyway). All else equal, he also prefers to feed on non-humans and non-demihumans. He is ever a pragmatist and believes that his life is valuable enough that he can rationalize drinking anyone’s blood when he has need. Ralark moves from place to place impersonating a regular human fighter, moving on whenever new threats call him elsewhere or he is no longer able to maintain his personal charade at being a normal Human (usually when his feeding habits become noticed). He is seen less and less over the last few centuries leading some to say that he is waiting in hibernation or someone finally killed him (or he finally killed himself).

    Ralark’s Lineage Mechanics: Ralark never sired any vampires, but he could. His hypothetical lineage of vampires would not have some of the more esotetic powers like shapechanging but they would borrow some abilities from Paladin class list.


    Lorshellis the Successor: Lorshellis was an elven fighter known for her tactical acumen as much as her personal fighting ability. She wanted to stay loyal to Malthian’s goals and worked with Ralark for a time before the two had a falling out. The way she saw it, Ralark didn’t fully understand how Malthian was willing to make sacrifices for the greater good. Lorshellis believed that with Malthian’s death, it was up to his loyal followers to bolster the ranks of the vampires.

    After fruitlessly searching for the Bloodstone, Lorshellis began making lesser vampires herself, always screening her candidates carefully. At this point there were already lots of lesser vampires of other lineages who were spell casters. She decided it was foolhardy to not bring in spell casters of her own when the opposition had spell casters. She tends to screen spell casters more carefully than non-spellcasters and Lorshellan vampires who are spellcasters are still fairly uncommon. Lorshellis calls herself and his progeny the Malthian vampires. Other vampires call them the Lorshellan vampires.

    Lorshellan vampires are few in number and geographically dispersed, but they do their best to maintain communications with each other. Most strive to protect the weak (especially from other vampires) to make up for those they kill feeding, but some can’t reconcile their thirst for blood with their desire to do good deeds. Many Lorshellans become recluses or suicidal. Others fall down the slippery slope of rationalization until they become petty bullies and tyrants, some have fallen so far they even allied with members of Vladimir’s or Vralic’s broods. Lorshellis does not have the ability to completely police her own ranks, but she will usually find and destroy any fallen Lorshellan if they get the idea in their head of embracing a large brood of minions.

    Lorshellis’ Lineage Mechanics: Swap basic mind control with a challenge power that forces enemies to make a Will save or fight her. Swap a few shape changing powers to get the ability to summon an equivalent Paladin’s war horse which is always the alignment of the vampire, even if the vampire changes over time.


    Dalak the Dark One: Dalak was a human fighter of common birth who managed to make a name for himself surviving difficult battles that killed most of his fellow soldiers. Eventually he gained enough of a reputation for valor to attract Malthian’s attention. Said to be the most charming of the original vampires, it’s believed Dalak’s silver tongue caused Malthian to overlook his weak moral character.

    After Malthian’s death, Dalak tried to convince his fellow vampires that they had no more ties to mortals. He narrowly avoided being killed by the others after this pronouncement and fled. Dalak eventually joined up with one of Malthian’s liche foes. The lich in question was one of the rare infernalists attempting to conspire with the creatures of the Void. Dalak became his lieutenant.

    His new master had a citadel in the Near Void but Dalak could not remain their long because he needed blood. He serves his new master covertly in Scarterra, but his master operated on a very slow time table and rarely gives orders. That gave Dalak a lot of time to work on his own projects. He turned created for more vampires than his master expects. Dalak recruited as many wizards as he could. He ordered his minions to focus on researching an alternative for sustenance to drinking blood. His goal is to be able to survive indefinitely within the Void. Once able to do so he will replace his master and be the lead collaborator with the demons during their next great incursion.

    Dalak’s followers are few in number in order to keep a low profile. Few living being are even aware of Dalak’s brood (who normally impersonate Vladimir’s bloodline if discovered) and fewer still know what their intentions are. The other vampire founders are aware of his intentions to ally with demon kind, though they do not know the specifics. Other vampires generally kill Dalak’s progeny every chance they get as even the self-centered vampires of Vladimir’s line don’t want to see demons destroy the world.

    Dalak’s Lineage: Boost the charm and dominate powers, reduce the physical powers.


    Scarterran Goblins

    Like many of the rest of Greymoria’s creations during the Second Age, Goblins were created to plague the Elven race. Like many of Greymoria’s cannon fodder species, they died in droves killing relatively small number of Elves in the process. At some point a group of Elves decided to capture a group of marauding Goblins and put them to work rather than kill them outright.


    Eventually the idea of having Goblins perform menial labor caught on to several Elven nations. Goblins grew to become the second most populous race in the Second Age, most of them enslaved. Not every Goblin was enslaved, and not every Elven society practiced Goblin slavery, but the Goblin society shaken the world over by this. The Goblins moved from harassing Elves to avoiding capture and inciting slave revolts (though most Goblins chose to look out for themselves and their families first rather than act on behalf of the race as a whole).

    They continued struggling against the Elves through the onset of the Second Unmaking. While most Demons focused on attacking Elves, the Goblins were hit disproportionately hard. Given the large number of past escape attempts, most Goblins were locked up in pens and couldn’t even try to run away from the energy draining hordes. The Elves placed little emphasis in evacuating or protecting their slave pens. Many Goblins used the chaos of the Second Unmaking to escape to freedom, but most could not escape their holding pens and were slaughtered and drained by Demonic hordes en masse.

    Like everyone else at the time, the free Goblins did the best they could to either fight or flee from the Demons and their undead minions. Most of the Goblins who actively resisted the Demons battled against the minions of the Demon Lord known as the Successor. The Successor was the only Demon Lord who kept prisoners. It was unclear whether the Successor intended to farm mortals forever or whether it just wanted to farm mortals for long enough to feed the Demon hordes to complete their campaign of global destruction, but Goblins were viewed as the ideal livestock since they were physically weak, bred fast, and containment facilities for them were already in place. In many areas as the Demon hordes simply captured slave holding pens intact.

    A Goblin leader known to modern Goblins as the Great One organized the Goblin resistance movement engineered a massive prisoner revolt which, was instrumental in the Successor’s defeat. While civilized historians downplay the Goblins role in this. As far as Goblin oral histories are concerned, the Great One’s leadership and sacrifice saved the Elves and the entire ungrateful world from the Successor’s enslavement.

    Goblins are not the most diplomatic creatures. Without the legendary charisma of the Great One the Goblins fell on each other and split into many smaller groups. Also, while nearly all modern Goblin tribes claim direct ancestral ties to the Great One, it’s likely that the Great One never united more than a third of the Goblin race, so these claims of having his bloodline are highly suspect.

    Modern Goblins are split into nomadic tribes and the occasional settled chiefdom. Each modern Goblin tribe and chiefdom is distinct. If a tribe’s ancestors used to work in Elven forges, the tribe probably has a metal working tradition. If a tribe’s ancestors did agricultural work, they are likely to attempt to grow their own food, assuming they can find arable land not claimed by stronger groups. Unfortunately Goblins are not the best custodians of knowledge, so the race’s collective knowledge of the arts of civilization are slowly declining. Their knowledge of the arts of theft, stealth, ambushes and dirty tactics is slowly growing. Most Goblin tribes depend on raiding to a greater or lesser degree. Pretty much like their entry in the Monstrous Manual says.

    Modern Goblins generally grow up inoculated with tales of oppression at the hands of the Elves. Modern Dark Elves continue to keep Goblin slaves. Other Elves do not keep Goblin slaves and generally make the somewhat dubious claim that their ancestors did not keep Goblin slaves either. Modern Goblins don’t care. Most of them neither notice nor care about Elven subcultures. They will either attack or flee from any Elf they see. They tend to give Half-Elves the same loathing, assuming they can even tell Half-Elves apart from full Elves.

    Goblins have little love for Humans. They see them as the successors of Elf oppression in the Third Age. While not common, some Human cultures have taken up the old Elven practice of keeping Goblin slaves. Beyond that Humans have the ire of the Goblins for being the most powerful race on the planet controlling the most fertile and productive land. Goblins should be the most powerful race.

    Goblins don’t like Dwarves either. Dwarves never stooped to using lowly Goblin slaves to perform their labor, but the two races compete for the resources and territory. While they compete with territory with everyone, Goblins favor underground lairs and this ensures plenty of brushfire conflict with the Dwarves. A small number of Gnomes favor reaching out to Goblins and a very small number of Goblins tolerate Gnomes as a result of this, but this is the exception not the rule. Most Gnomes who have met Goblins think peaceful interaction is a lost cause. Some Gnomes have even been silently complicit with Goblin slavery in Human nations and many Goblins have noticed.

    Goblins get along nominally better with the other so-called Monstrous races, but relations are hardly warm. Goblins will extort, rob, enslave and/or eat anyone if they think they can get away with it. They have also been extorted, impressed, robbed, and eaten by Orcs, Ogres, Dragons and many others. Despite their belligerent nature, individual Goblin tribes occasionally will trade with other races based on mutual gain, especially when neither party clearly has the upper hand, most often this occurs with Kobolds.

    Each Goblin tribe is organized slightly differently but most have a single leader, more often than not called a King. Leadership is theoretically a hereditary position but any leader is likely to fall to a violent coup if he can’t maintain the right combination of intimidation, trickery, flattery, and naked force necessary to control an unruly mob of Goblins. Particularly powerful Goblin leaders have managed to unite multiple tribes but these alliances are so short-lived they are lucky if they last long enough for the grand leader to die.

    Nearly all Goblin tribes are patriarchal. Goblin women are valued primarily for their ability to bear male offspring and secondarily for domestic work. They are virtually property, but they are still held in higher status than non-Goblin captives who are generally worked to death. Goblins women, like Goblin men will turn the tables on their oppressors in a heartbeat. If a female Goblin acquires enough personal power (generally as a Sorcerer or Rogue) to overthrow the current leader, the Goblin Queen will overthrow their tribe’s patriarchy and establish an equally oppressive matriarchy.

    Goblins are hard to pigeonhole with their piety except usually they are not very pious. They do practice some token worship. Who gets the meager Goblin praise varies greatly from tribe to tribe. Some view Greymoria as their Patron Mother, a goddess mad at the same people they are mad at. Some hate Greymoria for forcing their ancestors into a hopeless battle and abandoning them into slavery. Some view Mera as a goddess who looks after the lowly like themselves. Some view Mera as the patron of weak willing victims. The same goes for all the Nine with conflicting opinions but in general Phidas and Maylar are usually well regarded, Hallisan and Khemra are usually not.


    Scarterran Dragons


    Dragons are iconic to Dungeons and Dragons, but I gradually grew tired of the color coded dragons D&D players know so well. White Dragons breath ice, living in the arctic, and are pretty dumb. I bet most veteran D&D players can go over the basics of the personality, breath weapon, and favored environment of the ten basic dragons, or at least they’ll know the five chromatic dragons. One thing that DMs often have trouble with is players having encyclopedic knowledge of all the dragons.

    Dragons need a lot of food, Dragons need a lot of space, and Dragons need a lot of treasure. In order to have sustainable breeding populations for TEN subspecies of Dragons, the Dragons would either need to completely dominate the world. If a world has space for human and demi-human kingdoms, other monsters, various barbarian tribes then the world would need to be much bigger than Earth. More often than not, fantasy worlds are smaller than Earth. I don’t like ignoring the plot hole that is the ecosystem if I can help it.

    Solution to both problems: There is one species of Dragon, but the species shows considerable variation in abilities and outlook.

    I based my dragons heavily off of the excellent 3.5 sourcebook called the Draconomicon. If something applies to most or all dragons in that book I rarely see reason to change it. Officially, D&D Dragons can be born as Tiny, Small, or Medium creatures depending on Dragon subtype. For simplicity, all Scarterran Dragons are born as Small creatures.

    The Draconomicon has Dragons maximum lifespan based on type ranging from about 2100 years to about 4400 years. I haven’t decided where in this range Scarterran Dragons tend to fall. I’ve even toyed with the idea of Dragons never dying of old age or at least having never died of old age in the First Age.


    Dragon Alignment: Dragons are free-willed beings. They usually have the moral compass of the Dragon or Dragons who raised them but they can have any moral viewpoint. Just because two dragons have the same alignment doesn’t mean they will react to every situation the same way. Like everyone else, Dragons can also radically change their moral viewpoint due to life experiences. Generally speaking, good Dragons want to help lesser beings, evil Dragons want to exploit them, and neutral Dragons want to be left alone. There is a modest tendency for dragons to shift to neutrality as they grow older.

    Dragon Mating: Any male and female dragons can theoretically mate (well males go sterile when they reach the Great Wyrm stage and females likewise do so by the Ancient stage).

    Scarterran Dragons can mate for love or for simple reproduction. They may mate for life (though they rarely spend all their time together when they do) or they can view mating as a temporary arrangement. Dragons can be monogamous or they can have multiple partners (usually polygamous or polyandrous dragons are of advanced age relative to their mates).

    Dragons naturally prefer mating with other Dragons similar to themselves who share their interests, moral compass, method of operation and other personality traits. All else equal, Scarterran Dragons also prefer to choose mates who share their breath weapon. Ice-Fire pairings are all but unheard of. Dragons can be status conscious are more likely to mate outside their “peer group” if the other dragon is old and powerful.

    A mated couple may stay choose to together and collectively raise their clutch of eggs or they can split the clutch up and raise different sets of young separately. The eggs instead al may go with the older partner who is would make a wiser and more prestigious mentor or the younger Dragon may raise all the young because the older Dragon doesn’t want to bother with it. Some dragon clutches are more or less abandoned and the young left to fend for themselves. Either or both parents may or may not provide advice or assistance or advice to their young later after proving themselves. Dragons are likely to follow the child-rearing strategy of their own parents unless they had a major falling out with them. Dragons may mentor other Dragon’s children provided the younger Dragons are very deferential.


    Half-Dragons: Dragons are magical beings that can inter-breed with almost any intelligent creature if they can change their form. Sometimes, this is because a Dragon has grown close to another mortal. Other times, the Dragon deliberately wants to create Half-Dragons, either as powerful but controllable minions or as a somewhat patronizing desire to improve the mortals’ race. A lot of royal lineages claim distant descent from Dragons. Sometimes these claims are even true.

    The majority of Dragons have zero interest in creating Half-Dragons. Most are indifferent to Half-Dragons, but some are disgusted by the very idea. A small number of Dragons have even decided to slay any Half-Dragons they find on general principle.

    Breath Weapons and Energy Immunities: Dragons can breath 60 foot line of Fire or Lightning or a thirty foot cone of Fire, Cold, Poison Gas, Acidic Gas or Sonic blast. Some dragons have a secondary breath weapon, usually with a gaseous nonlethal debilitating attack like Nausea, Slow, or Paralysis. Dragons are always immune to their own energy type. Fire and Cold breathing dragons take extra damage from their opposing element. While a bi-breather could have two different energy attacks, no Fire/Cold bi-breathers exist.

    New-born Dragons frequently but not always are born with the breath weapon of one of their parents. Eggs always have the energy immunities of both parents, so you can never tell for sure what the energy type of the Dragon to-be will have from examining the egg shell.

    It’s difficult to tell at a distance what a Dragon’s energy attacks are unless you see them using their breath weapon, but one can usually guess if they get close up. Fire breathers radiate heat. Cold breathers radiate cold, lightning breathers crackle with static, Sonic dragons have louder voices and sometimes vibrate, Acid breathers tend to have acidic drool, and poison gas breathers sometimes vent most harmless but visible bits of poison. Sometimes dragons smell gives hints to their breath weapon but just as often they smell like natural phenomenon around their lairs. Fire and ice dragons tend to prefer hot and cold climates respectively but few other Dragons have noticeable patterns.


    Dragon Sorcery: Most Dragons get their first abilities in sorcery during the Juvenile stage but early bloomers get it in the Young Stage and late bloomers get it in the Young Adult Stage. Generally the higher the Charisma score is (before racial modifiers) the earlier their powers manifest.

    A Scarterran Dragon depends on Charisma for determining saving throws and bonus spells like any other Sorcerer, but a Dragon’s effective Sorcerer level is equal to the sum of their ability score modifiers for Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma put together. Thus a Dragon with Intelligence 14, Wisdom 12, and Charisma 15 would cast spells as a 5th level Sorcerer using Charisma to determine bonus spells and maximum level to cast as normal.

    Dragons develop spells that would be useful to them. Pick spells known that work well in a Dragon’s favored environment that complement a Dragon’s methods of engagement.


    Dragon Abilities: Dragons get points to spend on special abilities based on their hit dice. Dragons do not develop powers randomly, the powers reflect their wants and needs. A Dragon that lives in rocky caves is likely to develop a facility with Stone Shape while a forest dweller is likely not to. A gregarious Dragon interested in associating with lesser races will develop Alter Form at a very young age. A xenophobic isolationist Dragon will probably never develop Alter Form. If a Dragon does not develop aquatic, water breathing, or burrowing by the time they reach the Young stage, they never will.

    Physical Features: There are no rules for Scarterran Dragon’s color. DMs are free to apply the Rule of Logic and/or the Rule of Cool however they see fit to decide what a dragon looks like. If a Dragon buys the camouflage power, their coloration should match their favored environment. Dragon coloration changes gradually as they age. It’s up to individual DMs whether a particularly Dragon’s color becomes brighter or darker over time.

    You can set physical markers however you see fit. Aquatic Dragons have above average tail lengths and natural burrowers have below average neck lengths. For the most part, follow the Rule of Logic and Rule of Cool to determine things like horn size and shape, ridges, facial shape, etc. A Scarterran character with Knowledge Arcana can make reasonably accurate guesses about a Dragon with a close-up look or an accurate illustration. DC 20 for aptitudes and 25 for personality traits. Dragons can perform this on other Dragons even with zero ranks the skill, and they get a +4 Circumstance bonus on “Dragon phrenology checks” to be make educated guesses about other Dragons.


    Dragon Cooperation: If Dragon cooperation was solid, the First Age would never have come to an end. Modern Dragons have no guarantees about getting along with even their mates or immediate family members. Greater societal cooperation is pretty rare.

    Dragons are proud to be Dragons, so many view Dragons as the only beings worth associating with which improves racial unity. On the converse, many Dragons believe that only other Dragons are a threat. Some take this to the extreme that they will suspect manipulation by other Dragons that isn’t whenever a non-dragon bests them.

    Dragons try to keep up with the news on other Dragons. These are potential allies, rivals, or mates after all. Most Dragon of a century or more of age can probably give the relative location, name, goals, breath weapon, and other features about every other dragon within a couple hundred of miles of them.

    Most Dragons are territorial loners. Once Dragons leave their parent’s nest (or are forced out), they typically set up a lair and might permitting, claim everything within a day’s flight of their lair as their territory. Overlapping territory can lead to a fight between Dragons but more often than not, they let it slide. Overlapping territory provides a good neutral zone for Dragons to parley with their neighbors to share news or collaborate. Mated pairs often set up overlapping territories. Once in a while, Dragons of advanced age call meetings (never more than once a decade) for all the Dragons of a greater area. These are rarely used for more than boasting or attempts at attracting a mate (often the same to Dragons), but sometimes there actual is an issue of importance to all the area’s Dragons. Some of these locations are very famous and have been used as periodic meetings for millennia.

    Some Dragons act as a nominal leader to all or a large portion of the Dragons in their immediate area. The largest group like this in the Third Age is known as the Dragon Federation. The Dragon Federation is made up of a few dozen aquatic Dragons and a few hundred Scale Giants claiming lairs in the most intact First Age ruins on Scarterra (submerged naturally). They have established treaties with Human and Elven nations. Basically they allow ships to cross their territory for a modest annual bribe. If Dragons attack the treaty signatories they know their payments will stop. If Humans or Elves slay a Dragon Federation member, they can expect retribution. The king or queen Dragon is always of advanced age, but most of the Federation is made up of younger dragons. Older dragons usually either make a play to challenge the monarch or they chafe at the rule of another and leave to go their separate ways.

    Normally Dragons rarely bother avenging their own slain unless they were family members or friends. If they get news of a party of Humans slaying any particular Dragon, most will say “good riddance, I never liked him,” but mortals can never be guaranteed no Dragon will take offense. A mortal who managed to slay three or four Dragons will start to appear on the proactive threat radar of some Dragons without personal ties to the deceased. Also, Dragon slayers who wear dragon hide armor are more likely to face retribution. That’s just insulting.

    Number Crunching for 3.5 or Pathfinder

    Challenge Rating: I figure three quarters of the Dragon’s hit dice (rounded down) is a good starting point. That’s a little bit more CR than most MM dragons, but Scarterran Dragons on average have higher effective Sorcerer levels and more special abilities. Probably should drop a CR level or two if the dragon has no sorcery or if the Dragon has lots of hit dice since A 24 HD Dragon probably is not that challenging to a party of 18th level characters. Per most D&D dragons, Scarterran Dragons have triple the standard treasure for their encounter level.


    1-Wyrmling 0-5 Small 3-6 HD AC 4
    2-Very Young 6-15 Medium +3 HD AC 6
    3-Young 15-25 Medium +6 HD AC 9
    4-Juvenile 26-50 Large +9 HD AC 11
    5-Young Adult 51-100 Large DR 5/Magic +12 HD AC 14
    6-Adult 101-200 Large +15 HD AC 17
    7-Mature Adult 201-400 Huge DR 10/Magic +18 HD AC 19
    8-Old 401-600 Huge +21 HD AC 22
    9-Very Old 600-800Huge DR 15/Magic +24 HD AC 25
    10-Ancient 800-1,000 Gargantuan +27 HD AC 26
    11-Wyrm 1,001-1,200 Gargantuan DR 20/Magic +30 HD AC 29
    12-Great Wyrm 1,201-2,000 Gargantuan +33 HD AC 32
    13-Legendary Dragon 2,001+ Colossal DR 25/Magic +36 HD AC 31

    Bite 2 Claws 2 Wings Tail Slap Crush Tail Sweep

    S 1d6 1d4 - - - -

    M 1d8 1d6 1d4 - - -

    L 2d6 1d8 1d6 1d8 - -

    H 2d8 2d6 1d8 2d6 2d6 -

    G 4d6 2d8 2d6 2d8 2d8 2d6

    C 4d8 4d6 2d8 4d6 4d6 2d8

    Bite Base Strength modifier
    Claws/Wings Half Strength modifier
    Tail/Crush 1 ½ Strength modifier

    Str Dex* Con Int/Wis/Cha

    Wyrmling +2 +0 +2 +0
    Very Young +4 +0 +2 +0
    Young +6 +0 +4 +2
    Juvenile +8 +0 +4 +2
    Young Adult +10 +0 +6 +4
    Adult +12 +0 +6 +4
    Mature Adult +14 +0 +8 +6
    Old +16 +0 +8 +6
    Very Old +18 +0 +10 +8
    Ancient +20 +0 +10 +8
    Wyrm +22 +0 +12 +10
    Great Wyrm +24 +0 +12 +10
    Legendary +26 +0 +14 +12
    Half-Dragon +6 +2 +2 +2
    *=In Dragon form, Dexterity score cannot be above 11 without magical augments, though it can be lower.
    *=In humanoid form, Str is base creature modifier + 1/6 Str modifier
    *= In humanoid form Con +1/4 Con modifier

    Base Saves = ½ HD (rounded down) +2
    Base Attack = +1 per HD for first 20 HD, +1 per 2 HD after 20 (rounded up)


    Sorcerer Level = Int Modifier +Wis Modifier + Cha Modifier
    (Charisma still determines maximum level of spells and bonus spells). Sorcery never shows up before the Juvenile Stage (and these are early bloomers). You may want to adjust the sorcery of dragons at the Young Adult level or lower down a few levels.

    Weak Breath Weapon - 1d6 per age category
    Minor Breath Weapon - 2d4 per age category
    Moderate Breath Weapon - 2d6 per age category
    Strong Breath Weapon - 2d8 per age category
    Mighty Breath Weapon- 2d10 per age category

    Frightful Presence Save and Breath Weapon Save DC = 10+ 1/2 HD + Cha modifier
    Spell Resistance = HD + (2 times Cha modifier)

    Dragons get one “Dragon Point” per Hit Die. Dragon Points can be used to buy special abilities or improve their breath weapon.
    Power Point Cost
    Spell-like ability, once per day Level of spell
    Spell-like ability, three times per day level of spell+1
    Spell like ability at will level of spell+3
    Weak Lethal Breath Weapon* -1
    Minor Lethal Breath Weapon* 0
    Moderate Lethal Breath Weapon* 1
    Strong Lethal Breath Weapon* 3
    Mighty Lethal Breath Weapon* 5
    Additional Lethal Breath Weapon** 3
    Additional Non-lethal Breath Weapon** 4
    Water Breathing 1
    Swim Speed (and ability to automatically take 10 on Swim tests) 1
    Burrowing Movement 1
    Tongues 1
    Telepathy 3
    +4 Camouflage in broad terrain type (desert, forest, etc) 1
    +4 Camouflage in all terrains 2
    Alter Form (as a Silver Dragon) 4
    Ability to select Cleric spells with “Sorcerer” levels 2
    *Lethal Breath Weapons can be fire (line or cone), cold (cone only), chlorine gas (cone only), acid (line only), sonic (cone only), lightning (line only). Primary Breath Weapons come with immunities to damage type.
    ** Additional breath weapons still confer immunities and the dragon can switch between them interchangeable but it does not affect the rounds a dragon must wait before making additional breath weapon attacks. Non-lethal Breath Weapon attacks are all gaseous and can be Sleep, Repulsion, or Slow gas.
     
    Last edited: Sep 5, 2015
  4. Scalenex
    Slann

    Scalenex Keeper of the Indexes Staff Member

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    Part Four: Supposedly Civilized Folk


    I’m still working on my world map. This is my rough draft.

    [​IMG]

    I am thinking I might want to re-do the major continents this with a more east-west orientation than north-south orientation. Probably want to put in more islands and smaller land masses somewhere too.

    As soon as I come up with a world map I like I need to make more detailed continent maps. On the continent scale I can pencil in smaller islands, mountains, hills, forests, swamps, deserts, rivers, etc.

    My plan is to have two Elven nations, the Elven Empire (suspiciously similar to WHF High Elves) and Kahdisteria (suspiciously similar to WHF Dark Elves) and one group that straddles the line between nation and barbarian tribe (suspiciously similar to WHF Wood Elves). I took the basic concepts of the WHF Elves (which WHF hardly invented) but they aren’t total copies. In general the WHF extremes are softened so they are more alike each other than their GW counterparts.

    Each modern Elven population group represents the descendants of a group of refugees/survivors from the Second Unmaking, each with their own survival strategy. The three Elven groups don’t really have any history with each other to speak of, no real rivalries. For centuries the people of the three Elven nations assumed they were the only Elven survivors from the Second Age. With the map as stands the Elven Empire would be around the center of the map (centered in the crescent-shaped island), Kahdisteria is located on the west side of the southeast continent and the Wood Elves are located in the interior of the southern half of the western mega-continent. Probably.

    I’m planning to have three Dwarven nations. On the nations will be somewhat smaller the Elven nations. The nations are Meckelorn, Stahlheim, and Mondert. Meckelorn is the original Dwarven homeland while the other two are colonies that eventually grew into their own nation. THe short-hand way to keep track of them is Meckelorn Dwarves are stereotypical Dwarves to the letter. Stahlheim Dwarves soften Dwarf stereotypes slightly. Monderian Dwarves break most Dwarves stereotypes to a surprising degree. The Dwarf nations disagree on a lot, but they aren’t enemies. No faux-Chaos Dwarves on Scarterra. Rough draft is putting Meckelorn and Stahlheim in the north and south mountain ranges of the western megacontinent. I haven’t figured out where to put Mondert. It’s going to be a small island cluster somewhere eventually. Preferably far away from the main two Dwarven nations so the geographic isolation can explain their separate cultural growth.

    The Gnomes don’t have a nation. They are a minority population in nearly every Human, Dwarf, and Elven nation. I plan to put a tiny Half-Elf nation sandwiched between much larger nations. Any reasonable chunk of arable land not being used by the Dwarf and Elf nations will be filled with Human nations. Any area not particularly suited to farming I’ll fill with barbarians: Human tribes and monstrous races alike. Gnolls in the hot arid parts. Orcs in arctic and sub-artic regions. Beholders in the mountains. Goblins and Kobold tribes in smaller pockets almost everywhere. Dragons and other monsters wherever I feel like it. I have one Human nation concept so far, Swynferidia. Based heavily off of my favorite setting creation of a friend’s D&D setting but with a name change. Also I am creating a city state run by Half-Elves.

    Behold more details!

    Scarterran Feudalism

    Feudalism has hereditary titles and social classes. The different layers of society are tied together with reciprocal ties.

    Peasants, serfs, commoners, whatever form name they take are the base. They provide their labor to their feudal overlords. In return their overlords provide protection. If the farmlands are raided by orcs, rampaging ghouls, enemy armies or anything else, the overlords are obligated by a combination of morality, honor, and pragmatism to defend their subjects. There is also a darker side of “protection,” especially in peace time. If a peasants don’t pay their overlord his due, the overlord’s soldiers are free to do horrible things to them.

    Sometimes commoners pay a portion of their crops (or other products of labor if they aren’t farmers) and then keep or sell the rest to live on. There are many variations. Sometimes the nobles takes all the commoner’s crops and then gives them back enough to live on. This is especially common if the crops need to be processed to be consumed. The local noble probably controls the only mill, so commoners take their crops to the mill and receive flour back in return. Sometimes nobles (or a third party) will pay their commoners for the products of their labor and the nobles take collect their taxes in the form of coins instead of crops.

    In most cases, the worker’s feudal lord has a feudal lord as well. Much like the peasants on the bottom, a noble with a feudal lord manages the land on behalf of the true owner, his liege. Land managed this way is commonly referred to fiefs. The noble is beholden to his liege for protection and the legal right to use the land and collect income from it. The noble either pays his debt to his lord with goods, money, military service or a combination thereof. There can be many layers. For examples. Barons pay a portion of their income to counts who pay a portion of their income to dukes who pay a portion of their income to the king. The names of different feudal lords change from nation to nation but the basic principle is the same. For simplicity, I will keep referring to the titles above. Also, while a count collects some kind of tithe or duty from the barons underneath him, he probably has a least a small parcel of land under his direct management with laborers working directly for him with no middlemen.

    Feudal ties have a bunch of reciprocal obligations, but the obligations are meaningless without power backing it up. Knights are the primary enforcers of feudalism (though they aren’t always called “knights”). Generally speaking, the higher you are up the feudal hierarchy, the more knights you have. A Baron typically has between one and four knights and a King probably has at least a dozen. Knights usually but not always pledge fealty to every step of feudal hierarchy above their liege as well as their immediately liege, or at least they pledge fealty to their immediate liege and the ruling ruling monarch. Even if his ties are not formalized, a baron’s knight better step lively if he is addressed by the king.

    Knights often have a small parcel of land to derive income from, but this is not always the case in a D&D world. A roving troubleshooter that acts as an adventurer may or may not possess a small fief. If a knight as the full-time general of the king’s army, he might be too busy to manage a parcel of land. Or he could land administered by a bailiff. A bailiff doesn’t own the land or even possess a fief, but he (or theoretically she) handles all the day-to-day aspects of running the land in his master’s absence. Any feudal lord can have a bailiff if they are likely to be away from their holdings for extended periods of times.

    Even if a society is patriarchal, it’s often common that the wife of the lord runs his holdings while he is away (or even if he is there). Noble women have obligations beyond producing heirs. It’s rare to see a noblewoman whose only job is to produce heirs. A noblewoman managing her estate is simply that. The term bailiff refers to a hired employee who manages someone else’s land.

    Knights are often fighters, and higher ranking nobles often undergo at least basic knight’s training. This is not universal. A feudal lord could have almost any PC class or be an Aristocrat. Knights don’t have to be fighters as long as they can serve muscle duties. It varies culturally. Swynferidian knights are frequently hex blades or sorcerers. Imperial Elven knights are often swashbucklers or wizards. Almost any PC class can be found amongst nobles and knights somewhere.

    Noble positions are nearly always hereditary. In theory, a noble can bestow any title below his own to whoever he (or she) wants to, but the noble’s feudal overlords can overrule any promotion. Bestowing knighthood is relatively common, but bestowing higher levels is less common. Often a title is largely honorary. A duke or duchess that does not have any land does rarely wields the political power comparable to a lesser noble with land. Sometimes an honorary title is used by a noble to pave the way for a respectable marriage. If the king wants a high level adventurer to back him directly, it’s a valid option to name him a duke and “suggest” he marry one of his vassal’s daughters (or one of his own). Higher titles are more likely to be awarded in times of war as there may actually be land to hand out along with fancy titles.

    Besides a traditional lord, a king (or less commonly a lesser feudal lord) may bestow fiefs on institutions rather than people, commonly called a bishopric or coven. The bishopric or coven collectively is tied into the feudal hierarchy and they have a fief of land to manage and derive income from.

    A bishopric is a fief granted to one of the Nine’s priesthoods (or in rare cases a consortium of several priesthoods). Whoever the highest ranking priest or priestess of the bishopric is the acting noble head though they might be ruled by a small council. Succession is determined by temple politics rather than hereditary succession (though some priesthoods use hereditary when determining leadership. The acting high priest may run their fief directly but its more common for the day-to-day operations to be run by an acolyte priest or a hired bailiff.

    A bishopric helps establish legitimacy for a noble ruler. Having a bishopric fief is a strong way of saying “this noble supports the temple of _____ and his ruler ship is approved by the deity _____.” Beyond the intangible benefit of spiritual legitimacy, a bishopric’s priests provide official priestly services (presiding over weddings, baptisms, coronations, festivals, etc.). They also provide their lord with free magical services or at least very steeply discounted magical services. Usually a bishopric taxes and military service requirements are much smaller than a noble lords assuming they have any tax or military service requirements at all.

    One can gage the relative political power of a priesthood by seeing how many privileges and obligations a bishopric has as well as counting the number of bishoprics in a kingdom. Not all kingdoms have bishoprics. Priests can serve a noble without being directly tied into the feudal structure and they can wield political power outside the feudal structure. One example is a custom of having the non-inheriting children of nobility train as clerics. Sometimes in the event of unexpected deaths, a cleric ends up inheriting the noble title. If the children who are first in line to inherit are trained as clerics, assumed the priesthood wields a lot of influence in the region.

    Less common than bishoprics are covens. The basic principle is the same, but instead of bestowing a fief on a collective of priests the fief is bestowed on a small group of wizards. It’s not uncommon for dukes to have bishoprics, and it’s not unheard of for counts to have them, but covens are nearly always the direct vassals of the king or queen.

    Covens might have non-wizard arcane casters as honorary members, but wizards are the norm, and non-wizards almost never have a position of true authority. Non-wizards make succession messier. Covens can manage their own internal leadership affairs but “lineage” involves master to apprentice rather than ties of blood. The acting noble head is usually the most powerful wizard, but he or she may appoint someone else to be the covens “face” to the king. In lieu of taxes or military service, covens provide magical services to their lord either for free or at steeply discounted rates. Arcane casters can serve a noble without being directly tied into the feudal structure, and they can wield political power outside the feudal structure. In fact sometimes nobles are wizards or non-inheriting children of the nobility train as wizards.


    Social Hierarchy:


    Slaves: Slaves are so low they aren’t a part of the feudal system. They are considered property. They only have the rights and privileges their masters allow, and these “rights” can be taken away at any time. Some nations have slavery and some do not. Slave status is usually hereditary passing to their children. If the slaves are of the same race as the rulers, most slaves are criminals, prisoners of war or the descendants there of. Other times slaves are a race deemed to be inferior to the rulers. Some human nations have goblin slaves. Kahdisteria has a layered hierarchy of slaves with goblins on the bottom, humans in the middle tier and half-elves on top all subordinate to their elven masters.

    Serfs: Serfs are practically slaves, but a serf is legally tied to the land and not another person. They can’t leave the land they work on and they aren’t paid, but they have some rights that slaves do not, at least in theory if not in reality. A feudal lord cannot legally kill, rape, or beat his/her serfs without just cause. A feudal lord is legally obligated to see to the welfare of his serfs. Serfs can usually choose who they marry and whether to have children or not. A serf can be drafted as a man-at-arms of his lords army, but this is not particularly common outside of very dire situations.

    Peasants: Peasants are one step above serfs. In theory, a peasant can legally leave the land they work on. Most do not have the economic means to do so and survive, but legally they cannot be beaten or killed for refusing to work the land they were born on. In general, a peasant has more legal rights than a serf. For instance if a noble kills a peasant without just cause, the fine the noble pays is usually much larger than the fine the noble pays if a serf is killed. A peasant can be drafted as a man-at-arms of his lord’s army. This is slightly more common than serfs being pressed to fight, but most nobles prefer to rely on their knights and other full-time soldiers.

    Burghers: Burghers are free citizens, usually living in towns or cities. They usually don’t own land, or they simply own a building. They differ from peasants in that they usually have specialized skills. They ply their trades and they pay their taxes, usually in the form of coins rather than goods or produce like peasants. Sometimes unskilled laborers in urban areas or highly skilled peasants blur the line between peasant and burgher. Just think of burghers as the tiny middle class in a medieval society.

    Non-noble Landowners: Non-noble landowners are not part of the feudal system directly. A Yeoman is essentially a peasant that owns the small piece of land he or she works on. In addition to the legal rights of peasants, in theory a yeoman cannot be kicked off his/her parcel of land. Control of the land will pass to his/her family upon the person’s death. Unless the yeoman owns a parcel of land out in the middle of nowhere, he still has to pay taxes. If he pays taxes, the noble who collects his taxes is obligated to defend him from outside threats and to let his soldiers harass him. Yeoman can be pressed into military service, but they usually receive somewhat better training than conscripted peasants and a modest salary to boot.

    In a non-feudalistic nation, yeoman are often the norm for the base level of society, often with land owned by a single family for many generations. Yeomen within a feudal nation probably received his parcel of land as a reward by the nobility for something they or their ancestors did. Yeoman occasionally exist in feudal societies when one nation annexes another and for whatever reason opts not to steal the land from all the original owners (though the tax payments go to a new lord, naturally). If a Yeoman has more children than can effectively inherit the land, the non-inheriting children have to make their fortunes elsewhere. Most rags-to-riches adventurers start out this way since peasants and runaway serfs can’t normally scrape even a first level adventurer’s gear.

    Beyond yeoman, some landowners are a lot better-off. Some landowners have lots of land and have to hire workers (or buy slaves). Like the lowly yeoman they have to pay taxes, but they are a lot harder for nobles to push around and they can use their wealth to buy political influence. If they are living in a mostly feudalistic land, they probably own land that produces something other than a staple food crop. They could have a plantation for cash crops, own a piece of timberland, or own a mine. If they live in a non-feudal society, they could have any sort of land and are the de facto nobles. They probably have the king’s ear even if they don’t have formal power. In a feudal society they or their ancestors probably did something extreme to help the monarchy and received the land as a reward. Most of the time, a feudal lord will absorbing a wealthy landowner into his realm (without killing the owner and taking the land) will offer the landowner a title and make him a full noble with all the feudal rights and obligations.


    Dwarfs of Scarterra


    Origin: Nearly all Dwarves agree they were formed out of stone and given life by Hallsian though opinions differ on what purpose Hallisan had in mind. The most common story told by Dwarves is that Hallisan saw the Second Unmaking coming and wanted a race to stauchly defend the mountains and the Underdark. A lot of non-Dwarves state that if Hallisan saw the Second Unmaking coming, he would have done a lot more. While they certainly believe defending the mineral wealth of the world from threats was a factor, Hallisan probably just wanted a race close to his ideals. Almost every one of the Nine had created a paragon race by this point except for Hallisan.

    The Great Stone is the central holy relic to Dwarf culture and religion. The Great Stone is believed to be the very rock that the first Dwarves emerged from. Not only does the Great Stone have religious and symbolic significant, but it also amplifies divine spellcasting nearby. More importantly it greatly increases the fertility of underground fungi and plants within miles, making the area around the Great Stone the most habitable place in all the Underdark.

    History: The first Dwarves settled in the mountains around the Great Stone as the Elven kingdoms were declining at the End of the Second Age. The Dwarves fought a bitter war keeping the mountains clear of attacking demons. As the Third Age dawned, the Dwarves expanded slowly absorbing the nearby lands once held by Elves but not settling particularly far from the hills around the Great Stone. They named their kingdom Meckelorn.

    Early in the Third Age, Meckelorn had a very greedy king who was much disliked. This was exacerbated by overcrowding issues straining resources raising tensions all around. Many wanted to crown his more beloved younger brother, Monderiaus. Mondarious refused stating that to break the rules of succession would damage the Dwarf people for centuries to come. He did leave Meckelorn with a small contingent of his core supporters. This both served as a wakeup call to his brother to moderate his behavior and simplified things by alleviating overpopulation concern.

    Mondarious and his fellow pilgrims sailed a long time until they fell in love with a volcanic island chain and settled there. Other storytellers say Mondarious and his fellow pilgrims sailed a long time until their ships started leaking and they were forced to stop in a volcanic island chain. Their descendants have been separated from Meckelorn by both hundreds of centuries and hundreds of miles that their culture is very different from other Dwarfs. Mondarious and the original islanders became fast friends after joining forces against several mutual threats. Today Mondert has two kings: one Human and one Dwarf, and the two peoples work closely together on all levels of society.

    Monderian Dwarfs break many of their race’s stereotype. They are not innately distrustful of magic, they hold Mera as their top patron, they generally warmly welcome visiting strangers, and they like boats. Many joke that Monderian Dwarves are actually tall bulky Gnomes. Don’t worry they still are good craftsman, enjoy drinking, and take pride in their beards. After their founding, Mondert all but disappeared from relevancy in Dwarven history. Sure they exist but they are too few and too far away to matter.

    Outside of Mondert, the Dwarves were rarely friendly with non-Dwarves, but they were also rarely hostile with. The emerging Humans and re-emerging Elves near Meckelorn were content to leave the Dwarves alone and the Dwarves reciprocated. Meckelorn had reasonably amiable relations with Gnomes. On the suggestion of the Gnomes, a small group of Dwarves settled in a mountain range south of their ancestral holdings and built a small colony there called Stahlheim. Unlike Mondert, Stahlheim was technically part of the same nation of Meckelorn. The two places were separated by hundreds of miles of wilderness and human kingdoms meaning that the Stahlheim Dwarves had relative autonomy though there was some mild traffic between the two places.

    A series of Dwarf kings decided they needed to expand their borders. They bypassed the organized Human kingdoms and expanded into hilly land and wilderness loosely inhabited by Human barbarian tribes. They ended up displacing numerous nomadic human tribes in a northward expansion. Then a Half-Orc warlord named Mordock managed to unite several nomadic human tribes, orc tribes, a small brood of dragons, and a number of smaller groups into a retaliatory war against Meckelorn. Mordock was able to conquer much of Meckelorn and seize the Great Stone.

    Mordock was both a warrior and a sorcerer who is said to have had Greymoria’s blessing. Whether or not he truly had her blessing, Greymoria had nursed a grudge against the Dwarves’ in shunning her. She unleashed the Derro to attack the Dwarves from underground while Mordock attacked from the surface. They were also indirectly aided by other subterranean races opportunistic raids. The Goblins and less common subterranean monsters had no love for Mordock but they couldn’t resist kicking the Dwarves while they were down.

    A combination of war casualties and assassinations left most of the royal family dead. Meckelorn ended with a contested throne between two shirttail relatives of the pre-war king. The contention had more to do with policies than bloodline.

    One royal contender wanted to liberate Meckelorn as soon as possible and regrouped militant survivors intact holds outside of the range of the Great to begin a war of liberation. He and his followers regrouped in a series of holds outside the range of the Great Stone and began a guerilla war campaign to reclaim the Great Stone and the surrounding are.

    The other royal contender wanted to rebuild for several years elsewhere then attack once total victory could be assured. He and his followers took refuge in the formerly unimportant colony of Stahlheim. Effectively this created two dwarven nations: Meckelorn and Stahlheim.

    Meckelorn’s population declined while Stahlheim’s population swelled, Much to the consternation of all Dwarves, Mordock died peacefully in his sleep at a ripe old age. Mordock’s grand alliance did not survive long past his death and the Meckelorn Dwarves were able to slowly take their lands back bit by bit though losses continued. Once they had a sizeable portion of their original kingdom back, Meckelorn’s population didn’t so much rebound as it simply stopped shrinking.

    Much of Mecklorn’s continuing war losses were in failed attempts to liberate the Great Stone. At one point while Meckelorn was licking their wounds from a particularly bloody failure, Stahlheim finally mobilized an offensive army and managed to recapture the Great Stone. The Dwarves of Meckelorn wanted to reestablish their capital around the Great Stone, but Stahlheim refused to yield it.

    Stahlheim had the larger population and greater riches, but Meckelorn was geographically right on the Great Stone’s doorstep and didn’t have to march hundreds of miles making the outcome of such a war hard to predict. The Dwarves agreed not to profane the Great Stone with Dwarf’s shedding the blood of their kin. shedding Dwarf blood. Eventually it was agreed the two nations would share the city where it would be a spiritual center for both Dwarf nations and a political center for neither. Effectively creating a very tiny Dwarf nation run by priests sort of like a Dwarf Vatican.

    While it’s very rare for Stahlheimers and Meckelorners to fight beyond the scale of a bar brawl, relations between Dwarves of the two nations are…frosty. They are still bitter about the divide of control over the Great Stone today. The Meckelorn Dwarves detest that the Stahlheimers ran away for centuries then came back at the last minute to claim the spoils of victory. The Stahlheimers look down on the Meckelorn Dwarves for needlessly throwing away Dwarven lives to fight for every inch of land rather than retreat and regroup. After the Stahlheimers won the Meckelorners’ war for them, the ingrates tried to muscle them out.

    Despite the fact that Mondarian Dwarves have evolved into an arguably un-dwarven culture, Mondarians tend to get along well with both Meckelorners and Stahlheimers. Familarity breeds contempt, and Mondert is so geographically removed they rarely meet in modern times. When Mondarians who visit the mainland Dwarves or visa versa the strangers are usually greeted as long-lost family.

    Organization: All three Dwarf kingdoms are headed by kings, the crown always passing to the eldest direct male heir. Meckelorn has a feudal system its lands are divided into lands ruled by hereditary Lords who all pledge fealty to the king. Stahlheim also has a king, but below him are guild heads rather than feudal lords. Land parcels are held by families which sometimes but not always overlaps with guilds. Stahlheim’s king wields less absolute power than Meckelorn and he has to occasionally bend to the wealthier guild leaders. Monderia’s king is expected to lead his people in times of war, but he is mostly a ceremonial figure in times of peace. The Moderian clan elders run most of the day-to-day operations of the small nations. Also the Mondarians have a second king, a Human as well as a Human council of elders.

    Religion: Nearly Dwarves worship Hallisan as their primary patron and dislike Greymoria and Maylar. Mecklorn Dwarves venerate the other six deities but not very deeply. It’s not common to see many priests dedicated to gods other than Hallisan. Stahlheim has a plurality of Hallisan priests, but Phidas, Khemra, and Mera has a fair number of Stahlheim priests. Monderian Dwarves venerate Mera and Hallisan on equal footing with Korus close behind.

    Outsiders: A good way to keep the Dwarven nations straight is to think of Mecklorn Dwarfs as following most Dwarf stereotypes to the letter. Stahlheim somewhat soften Dwarf stereotypes somewhat. Apart from their beards, Monderian Dwarves barely seem like Dwarves at all.

    Example: Meckelorn warriors favor the axes and hammers so much that they are likely to look down on those who don’t use these weapons. The plurality of Stahlheim warriors use a Warhammer or axe as their weapon of choice but a lot of them favor swords of polearms. Monderian Dwarves find hammers and axes inconvenient to fight with from their canoes, so they favor spears and tridents.

    Dwarves who do not fit in well with their own people for whatever reason find that they can find work as soldiers, stonemasons, smiths, engineers, or mining supervisors almost anywhere, so oddball Dwarves show up working for Humans or other races around the world. While not removed from Dwarf society entirely, Stahlheim and Meckleorn herdsmen and the military scouts their culture periodically breeds are considered mavericks by their own people even though the service they provide is invaluable for providing both food and defense. Though to be fair, Dwarf rangers tend towards being Chaotic breaking the normal Dwarf bias towards Law.

    While not quite outsiders. There a small number of Dwarves who think it’s long past time Dwarve’s found a fourth nation or at least a new colony. There are lots of mountains in Scarterra without Dwarves mining them, even a fair amount of rocky mountain territory not currently claimed by Humans or Elves. The main obstacle isn’t so much current inhabitants of these “virgin” mountains. The main obstacle is a lack of Dwarves willing to emmigrate away from their homelands. A lot of the Dwarves who are interested in emigrating (or have already done so), don’t exactly feel a strong urge to band together with other expatriate Dwarves.


    Gnomes of Scarterra


    Mechanics: As the PHB but drop the attack bonuses against goblins and kobolds and the dodge bonus against giants. Add +2 to Diplomacy and Gather Information.

    Origin: Mera created Gnomes early in the Third Age very shortly after the Nine released the first Humans. Mera desired a peaceful, kind people to set an example for the other races and to mediate disputes. She bade them to multiply and join every people and nation.

    History: The Gnomes followed Mera’s directive and spread out to every continent. They offered their services to a number of burgeoning human nations and the surviving Elven nations as well the other races. Many times the Gnomes were welcomed, many times they were not.

    The results were mixed. When the Gnomes were not welcome, they would leave peacefully or with a fighting retreat. Gnomes like to tell sagas and epic poems about their forebears’ early successes and failures with diplomacy.

    The Saga of Gredlok tells of how the Gnomes cemented their friendships with the Dwarves forever by saving the life of the heir to the crown of Meckelorn (at that time the Meckelorn was the only Dwarf nation). Gnomes have maintained their friendship with them ever since. In modern times, Gnomes are welcome in all Dwarven lands.

    The Sylvan Elves politely refused to allow them in their forested borders, but they were adequately impressed by their respect for nature to allow Gnomes to visit in small groups. Relations between the two have been distant but cordial. In modern times, if they have to deal with human nations, Sylvan Elves prefer to do so through Gnomish citizenry of those nations.

    The Grey Elves imperiously refused to allow Gnomes to enter their lands, initially. As pragmatism forced the Elven Empire to accept Half-Human and Human citizens, they chose to accept Gnomes as well. True to form, the Gnomes often serve as go-betweens for the Elves and Humans. The Elven Empire has fewer Gnomes than most Human kingdoms, as the Gnomes do not enjoy the Grey Elves condescending attitude. Gnomes are considered above Humans but below Elves.

    The Dark Elves were the last Elven group contacted. The Dark Elves saw the Gnomish ambassadors as useful slaves. More long-lived than Humans and seemingly weak and docile. Gnomish adventurers around from around the world flocked to initiate guerilla war against Kahdisteria while Gnomish diplomats united many disparate people with a grudge against Dark Elves. After centuries of brush-fire conflicts, the Dark Elves decided Gnomish slaves were more trouble than they worth. They agreed to ransom back all the surviving Gnomish slaves. The Dark Elves and Gnomes do not get along well to this day, but Dark Elves have never tried enslaving Gnomes again. Sometimes kill them, sometimes ransom them, but usually they ignore Gnomes. Unfortunately Human nations plagued by Dark Elves view the Gnomes as cowardly sell-outs and are less welcoming to Gnomes than elsewhere for abandoning the resistance when it seemed they were winning.

    Gnomish dealings with Humans vary a lot from kingdom to kingdom, but most Human lands have fairly well integrated Gnomish minorities. Gnomes dealings with the monstrous races tend to be poor, but noticeably better than Humans, Elves, and Dwarves tend to do.

    Organization: While Gnomes were compelled to spread about the world, they prefer to live near other Gnomes and tend to form their own villages, quarters, or enclaves within other races lands. Gnomes prefer to take positions similar to those in the principalities like those of the non-Gnomes they work with. If he a Human king has several counts, he likely has a Gnome Count if the Gnomes are geographically concentrated in one land. If a Dwarf principality is controlled or advised by a counsel of clan elders, the Gnomish community likely has an elder on the counsel.

    Gnomes while willing to work with anyone like to put down roots. It’s pretty rare to find Gnomes tagging along with nomadic groups long-term and all-Gnome tribes have not existed since very early in their history.

    Amongst themselves, Gnomes are pretty informal. Many Gnomes work hard at mediating disputes amongst other races. They are not hypocrites as they are very good at mediating their own disputes. Gnomish leaders rarely need to step in to solve disputes of ordinary citizens. When leadership is called for, Gnomes tend to take direction from their elders, and those who are the most charismatic and diplomatic. Gnomes tend to be familiar enough with their fellows in the area that they can usually identify the expert on any topic at hand, so they can pretty easily figure out the best temporary leader for any specific problem they are faced with.

    Most Gnomes are sedentary and willing to assimilate. Gnomes maintain their cultural identity via the Order of Delas (named after the greatest Gnomish hero of the liberation wars against the Dark Elves). The Order of Delas is made up of iterant Gnomes who keep lines of communication between disparate Gnomish communities open. The Order of Delas is made up largely of members who operate on fairly predictable circuits. They also have roving bands of adventurers who serve as roving trouble shooters. More common than Gnomish adventuring bands, are a network of Gnomes amidst multi-racial adventuring parties. The adventuring Gnomes of both stripes serve as defenders or at least avengers for Gnomes who face violent discrimination.

    Since Gnomes rarely have to deal with their people being oppressed, the roving Order members do standard problem solving that many other adventurers do. They also act as roving trouble shooters trying to mediate between warring factions of other races. Pretty much every Gnome adventurer who makes a name for himself or herself is likely to get an invitation to join the Order of Delas.

    There is a small but growing faction with the Order of Delas and their supporters that the Gnomes should found a sovereign nation somewhere. While many Gnomes are sympathetic to the idea, there is no real consensus on where said nation should be, who will populate it, what their government system should be, or even what their nation would be called.

    Religion: Being focused on peacemaking and mediation, Gnomes will rarely exclude any of the Nine outright. That said, they usually mirror the religious practices of the lands they attach themselves to, though with a greater emphasis on Mera worship who they see as their patron. Korus, Zarthus, and Hallisan are also generally well-respected and generally credited with helping Mera create the first Gnomes.

    Outsiders: Given how geographically dispersed Gnomes are and their penchant for assimilating into non-Gnomish cultures it’s all but unheard for a Gnome to become an outcast from his own kind. Even if a Gnome feels more comfortable in an adopted culture, they usually get along passable with other Gnomes. Some Gnomes don’t care to be social with anyone. Gnomes who are loners by nature are pretty rare, most are peaceful not you that can’t find the occasional maniacal wizard or sociopathic murderer.

    The most feared evil Gnomes are those who are not loners. When Gnomes put their diplomatic skills to nefarious ends it can be very destructive. Even evil Gnomes rarely seek self-aggrandizement preferring to quietly pull the strings of others for their own enrichment or amusement.


    Elven Empire


    History: During the Second Age, the Elven Empire was known simply as the Kingdom of Lunatus, named Lunatus because their primary island is shaped like a crescent moon. During the Second Age Lunatus was a minor power at best, often ignored by the other stronger Elven kingdoms.

    By virtue of geography, Lunatus had the fewest demon attacks of any Elven nation during the Second Unmaking. The island of Lunatus is located practically on the equator meaning that it was located far from the Demon Lords entry points. Also it is surrounded by ocean and had a fairly small population. Meaning it was not really considered worth the effort to attack. Still, Lunatus did not get a free pass; expeditionary forces from the Demon Lords known as the Annihilator, the Corruptor, and the Ravager all attacked the island at some point. The Corruptor came closest to toppling the island as at one point, the heir apparent of the throne was a secret infernalist though he was exposed fairly quickly prompting the kingdom to completely rewrite their laws of succession.

    Lunatus elves had very little impact on the greater events of the Unmaking though they ended absorbing a small number of refugees from nearly every Second Age kingdom. There armies were present at the final defeat of the Ravager. Modern Imperial Elves love to say their ancestors ended the Second Unmaking once and for all, but most Unmaking historians, especially Dwarves say the Lunatans played a small role all things considered.

    At the start of the Third Age, the island of Lunatus held the vast majority of the world’s elven population. They also had the most intact cities, libraries, and the least fragmented oral lore. They had two transformations: one internal, one external. During the Second Age “the Kingdom of the Moon” was considered sacred to Zarthus. Lunatus was once known as one of the most permissive and loosely governed kingdoms of the Second Age. Bolstered by refugees from more traditional kingdoms and fearing they were the last elven society left on Scarterra, Lunatus became staunchly traditionalist almost overnight as its denizens were desperate to hang on to every scrap of their culture and achievements from the past. Khemra became the most worshipped of the Nine.

    Externally Lunatus grew its borders in leaps and bounds. Once, one of the weakest kingdoms, the Lunatans were now dominate political force in Scarterra. Within a few centuries they had claimed great swaths of land as colonies. At some point they decided to change their name from the Kingdom of Lunatus to the Elven Empire. Not only did they have enough land to justify calling themselves an empire, but most assumed they were the sole Elven survivors of the Second Age. The other elven groups that survived into the Third Age were so far removed geographically that most Imperial Elves considered these mystery disparate Elves were a tall tale told by impressionable Humans. Eventually they did realize these groups existed but the rulers of the Empire generally deigned that these Elves were both too distant and too removed from their true heritage to be worth associating with.

    As the numbers of Humans increased, the Elven Empire went from ignoring humanity to incorporating Human subjects, for their own good of course. While Humans in the Elven Empire were not slaves they were clearly inferior to Elves lacking many of the same rights.

    Two things caused the Elven Empire to fragment. First, in most of the colonies, Humans bred enough to outnumber the Elves. As Humans assimilated more and more of the Elves culture, magic, and technology they viewed the Elves less and less as mysterious benevolent lords and more like oppressive minority tyrants. Once they had access to the same tools and lore of the Elves, Humans began rebelling against their Elven nobles increasingly frequently.

    The emerging Human kingdoms also began to assimilate the Elves technology and magic bolstered not just by mundane assimilation but by the spirits servants of the Nine, the Human kingdoms rapidly reached technological and magical parity with the Elven Empire. As Human kingdom’s borders expanded and ran out of empty productive land to claim, many looked to the Elven Empire’s outlying colonies as easy pickings.

    The Empire was usually able to put down Human uprisings, and they were usually able to fend off the military campaigns of hostile kingdoms, but they struggled to do both at once. When an outside invasion was backed by an internal insurrection, the Elven Empire nearly always had to relinquish territory as their Human citizenry revolted eagerly awaiting to greet their liberators’ armies. Sometimes the Empire was stubborn and only yielded colonies after years of bloody struggle. Sometimes diplomacy won out, and the expanding Humans bought Imperial land with gold or concessions though always backed with the threat of force.

    The pattern repeated itself over and over again. Almost every emperor or empress left a slightly smaller empire for his or her heir to rule. The current Empress has vowed (like many of her predecessors) to not yield an inch of territory. She has kept her promise so far. She has increased the size and funding of the Empire’s military. More than that she has pushed through sweeping political reforms.

    The main thrust of her political reforms are to increase rights and privileges to non-elven citizens of the Elven Empire. While the Elven nobles normally gave gnomish villages in their land relative autonomy as long as they paid their taxes, the Empress formalized this by elevating certain gnomes to the rank of Baron theoretically equal in standing to Elven Barons. The Empress rescinded the law banning Elven nobles from marrying Humans and Half-Elves and by extension legitimized a Half-Elf’s claim to a barony. He is currently the only Half-Human noble. Apart from the one Half-Elf and a few Gnomes, Elves still control most of the noble titles and all of the titles above Baron. No full Human has been granted a title.

    Half-Humans, Gnomes, and Humans have been elevated to the ranks of knights (usually landless knights), bureaucrats, and various other mid-level political and military posts. Originally the Empress simply asked her vassals to do so, but after a few nobles resisted she set minimum quotas in colonies with especially low percentages of Elven citizens.

    Externally the Empress has loosened trade restrictions to engage economically with Human nations easier. Ostensibly this to use economic ties to discourage Human nations from attacking the Empire’s land. There is a bit of bravado in this as the Empress makes sure to that visiting outsiders can catch biased glimpses of the Empire’s growing military. Her hope is to employ both the carrot and stick to discourage land-greedy Humans from attacking her Colonies. Some suspect she is planning an offensive to reclaim some formerly lost territory.


    Geography: Lunatus is an island shaped like a waning crescent moon. There is a chain of islands both north and south of the Lunatus that loosely extends the crescent. There are also island clusters not directly along the line. The Empire claims them all as well as well a number of small coastal holdings on the some of the larger continents.

    Economy: The Elven Empire controls a lot of coastline, so fishing is a major food source for the Empire’s citizenry. They still rely on farming to meet a large portion of their needs. They have a feudal agriculture system with a healthy mix of population sustaining staple crops and commerce building cash crops.

    The Empire holds their timberland in high regard and defends this resource fiercely in order to preserve their ship building industry. Most ships the Empire makes are used in their maritime or military fleets, but they usually produce a small surplus of ships. Elven ships are considered the finest in the Scarterra and fetch a high price elsewhere. The maritime fleet is essential for making sure all the Empire’s isolated holdings get whatever they cannot provide themselves. They produce much wealth through trade selling cash crops and finely crafted goods, and occasionally magical goods. The Empire has more wizards relative to their population than most Human kingdoms, and this gives them a small but lucrative trading niche in scrolls, potions, and less common items.

    If the economy has a shortcoming it’s in mineral riches. While Lunatus itself has reasonable mineral wealth, relatively few of the Empires colonies have much mineral wealth to speak of. Over the centuries most Elves sitting on the Imperial throne prioritized defending their timberland and farms ahead of defending their mines and quarries. Now they have to import a good portion of their mineral resources from other nations.

    Government: The Imperial Throne is the head of a strict feudal government that applies an unusually high degree of control over its vassals compared to most other nations. The current Empress is a high level wizard and is known to make surprise visits via Teleport to her vassals. Despite the occasional use of teleporting royal visitors, generally the farther away a holding is from the capital, the more autonomy the ruling nobles have.

    While the degree of micromanaging is notable, the most unique aspect of the Empire’s government system is their system of succession. Rather than have the throne pass to the eldest male, or simply the eldest child, the Emperor or Empress writes down their chosen successor in secret (and their second, third, and fourth choices, and so on sometimes encompassing dozens of candidates) and entrusts the document to the priesthood of Khemra.

    Since the Empress is free to change her mind and rewrite her choices at any point, this process leads to vigorous competition among the monarch’s children. Often they simply brownnose their royal parent, but the most successful heirs usually strive to do incredible exploits serving the Elven Empire, often rising to a high character level in the process. This is why most of the emperors and empresses have been personally as well as politically formidable. The downside is that more than one “adventuring” prince or princess has sadly never returned from their latest quest or endeavor. The competition for the royal succession has also has led to fratricide.

    Given the tendency of some heirs to die before being crowned, the emperor’s or empress’ usually ranks every one of her children (and possibly grandchildren) in order of preference. One Elven prince once murdered all of his brothers and sisters just to be sure. Upon the Empress’ death the prince found that she passed the throne on to her nephew. Since that first (and last) indirect succession, fratricide has become much less common in the Imperial family. No known kin-slayer has ever inherited the throne though that doesn’t mean that it has never happened. Given the number of princelings who die under mysterious circumstances on epic quests,


    Early in the Empire’s history, most throne holders have been warriors, but there has been a gradual shift to favoring wizards. The current incumbent and her two immediate predecessors were wizards. This trend has become so pronounced that if a prince or princess decides to take up a vocation other than wizardry, it is tantamount to saying “I do not wish to contest the throne.” Some speculate that the system favors women over men, but that seems to be coincidental. There are both streams of mostly male successors and streams of female successors. It mostly a coincidence that the last three holders of the throne were all empresses.

    The empress’ vassals all are hereditary positions. Every fief has the option to set their succession laws to either simply have the title pass to the eldest direct descendant, or allow the current seat holder to secretly select their chosen successor in a manner similar to the imperial throne. A slim majority of the top tier of noble titles mimics the imperial succession but the vast majority of lower noble holdings use the simpler system for passing on titles. Noble lines very rarely change their succession laws.


    The Empire’s governing system is feudal in nature. Slavery and serfdom are both outlawed though that is precious little comfort to the (usually Human) peasants laboring on the bottom tier of society. Even in the wake of the empress’ reforms there is a de facto institutional system of segregation. Most laborers are Human. Most artisans are Elves. Half-Humans tend to fall into professions that allow a lot of travel. Gnomes tend to fall across the spectrum, usually sticking to their communities of their own kind, though Gnomes have been the clear winners in the wake of the Empress’ social reforms. If forced to appoint a non-Elf to a position, a great many nobles trust and like Gnomes more than Humans or Half-Humans.

    Religious Practices: Khemra is the state patron of the Elven Empire. The empress is rarely seen without a priest of Khemra nearby to offer advice and many of her vassals follow suit. Because of the influence of Khemra’s priesthood, all of the Nine are officially recognized and worshipped by the state though sometimes it’s clearly done reluctantly.

    While the Elven Empire is known for tight control, individual citizens are given a surprising amount of leeway to worship as they choose. The Gnomes tend to worship Mera primarily as they commonly do in other nations. Humans in outlying colonies often assimilate the religious priorities and practices of nearby Human dominated nations. Sometimes this assimilation even trickles upward as more than a few Elven nobles in the outlying colonies practice religion somewhat differently from nobles on Lunatus. This is not constant. More than a few minority Elven leaders are reactionary hardliners. In the wake of the Empress’ social reforms, there has been an increase in Humans and Half-Humans assimilating to Lunatus’ norms in their worship rather than trying to differentiate themselves.

    The second most politically influential priesthood is that of Hallisan. Hallisans priests are often consulted by rulers. They also are very influential in the military. Hallisan’s political influence is growing. Many of the newly promoted non-elves value Hallisan as a patron more than Khemra.

    Phidas is a close third. Phidas priests are consulted in most matters of commerce and like in many other nations, their temples are the predominant lending institutions in the land. The rumor is they are buying their way into greater influence over the Imperial Throne. This has led to a mild backlash against Phidas in the more outlying colonies.

    Mera is widely respected but her priesthood wields little political power since she is considered mainly as a domestic goddess by the Imperial Throne. Still, Mera is probably prayed to more commonly on a daily basis by the citizenry as both the guardian of the hearth and the protector of people traveling at sea. Given that gnomes are gaining more prestige and influence and that Gnomes view Mera as their spiritual mother, its possible Mera’s priesthood will seek and/or receive greater influence in the near future.

    Korus has multiple festivals throughout the year normally tying into seasonal aspects of agriculture. Apart from that he is not worshipped often and is largely ignored. Sometimes Korus priesthood is consulted to mediate on disputes between different priests, but the Empire’s Korus priests are often accused of being in the pocket of Khemra’s priesthood.

    Greymoria has two observed holy days in the Empire. One at the end of the year commemorating her role in the Rebellion and one in the summer celebrating her Gift of wizardry. Beyond that Greymoria worship is swept under the rug. Most observances and offerings to Greymoria are actually performed by Zenith caste members of Khemra’s priesthood. Greymoria’s priests tend to only reveal themselves openly during her summer festival.

    Nami and Zarthus priesthoods both claim that in the Second Age their priesthoods were welcome in the vibrant and free nation that was Lunatus. Now they are barely tolerated. The only times the state officially observes a holy day for either of them is during their respective zodiac years. Thus what usually is at least an annual festival has become an every nine year festival. That’s fine for long-lived Elves but most Humans don’t like that. Several outlying colonies have yearly festivals to Nami and Zarthus that are nominally tolerated by the elven nobles.

    Mutual oppression has forged tight bonds. Nami and Zarthus priests and core followers tend to cooperate very closely in the Elven Empire to the point where some say they are hard to distinguish. Though Khemra is more opposed to Nami than Zarthus, the Elven Empire seems to crack down harder on misdeeds of Zarthus. Zarthus acts of rebellion often have moral underpinnings making them more dangerous from a propaganda point of view. Also there is worry that Imperial Half-Elves will use Zarthus worship as a rallying point to rebel much as they did in Appseldia. Also despite the fact that Greymoria gets more public respect, there are lot more priests of Zarthus and Nami than of Greymoria in the Empire.

    Maylar has no festivals. Simply an annual observance recognizing his contribution to the Rebellion and his Gift to civilization. This observance is carried out by Zenith caste priests of Khemra and takes less than two hours. Maylar worship outside of this is generally frowned upon. There are few Maylar priests in the Elven Empire and there are zero public priests of Maylar in the Empire. Once in a while Maylar worshipping brigands will attack an outlying colony or the Bearers of the Ill Wind will contact an “infect the Empire” scheme, but the real threat are the Decadents, particularly common among non-inheriting nobles who have lots of wealth but little responsibility or oversight. Government inquisitors work hard to prevent these subversives from poisoning the Empire from the top down.

    Demographics: The demographics of the Empire as a whole are about 55% Elves, 35% Human, and 5% Half Human, 5% Gnomes. If take look at the Empire minus the island of Lunatus the figure flips the Human and Elven percentages around. In general the farther you get from the capital, the greater portion of Humans versus Elves. It is expecting that Humans will outnumber Elves in the Empire as a whole within two centuries.

    Challenges: Historically the Empire’s greatest external threat was expansionist Human kingdoms. While there are some Human kings and warlords that would like to take a chunk off the Elven Empire, the main geopolitical threat is Kahdisteria. The Dark Elves who have been slowly and steadily working to reinvent themselves as a naval power. The Dark Elves have few overseas places left they can expand into without taking land from the Empire.

    The Imperial and Dark Elves have clashed in a few inconclusive small scale sea battles and some encounters between rival adventuring parties, but mostly it’s been a cold war. If two sides meet, the side with the smaller force tends to back down. When forces are equal, “battles” usual amount to little more than staring contests.

    While the idea of a Goblin invasion of Lunatus is laughable, Goblins have been raiding the Empire’s outlying colonies with increasing frequency. Apart from Goblins, the Elven Empire rarely has to deal with monstrous humanoids as a nation. A fair number of races created during the Second Age still bear a grudge against Elves, they rarely have the courage or numbers to challenge the Elven Empire directly, though Elves traveling abroad should be aware of the risks.

    Most of the Empire’s problems are internal. A lot of Elves, peasant and prince alike disagree with the Empress’ reforms. A lot of non-Elves find the concessions they received paltry and condescending. The social reforms are not the only issue the citizenry disagree with their empress on.

    Some look on the changing demographics with horror. How can the Elven Empire exist if the majority of its citizenry are Humans. Some hardliners suggest deliberately abandoning several colonies and pulling back the Empire to Lunatus and the closest islands alone. Others have suggested a hardline stance giving non-Elves, especially Humans less autonomy rather than more autonomy.

    Lots of non-Elven citizens would like to see non-elves get more rights and more noble titles. Even a few Elves believe the Empress’ reforms did not go far enough to empower their citizenry. “If Humans are to inherit the Third Age, let us lead humanity into greatness.” More pragmatic Elves point out, “If Humans breed faster than Elves, who better to bulk up our army?” Rather than seeking reforms, many would just as soon seek violent revolution.

    The Elven Empire has long maintained a policy of relative isolationism towards the other Elven cultures of the Third Age. The current empress is no exception, but many nobles under her wish it were different. Given that the Sylvan Elves generally want to be left alone, most Imperial Elves are happy to do so, but opinions differ on how best to handle the so-called Dark Elves.

    Some want to go to war with Kahdisteria stating that the Dark Elves are an abomination on the noble Elven race and a growing threat. It is also pointed out that by staunchly opposes the Dark Elves and their policy of Human and Half-Human slavery, the Imperial Throne and the ranking nobles can convincingly demonstrate to their non-Elven subjects that they really do have their best interests at heart. Also, if the Elven Empire were to invade a Human nation, it is likely that other Human nations would fear being next in line and ally together against them. If the Elven Empire went to War with Kahdisteria, Human nations would likely support their war effort.

    Some want to peacefully interact with the Dark Elves. Some hope that peaceful engagement can help steer the Dark Elves towards being true and proper Elves. Others simply would prefer to trade with foreign Elves than foreign Humans. A tiny minority of Elven hardliners quietly hope for an alliance between the two modern Elven nations would be a political powerhouse capable of putting the Humans a proper subservient place.

    It seems almost absurdly unlikely that the two Elven nations could overcome their differences and work together in this fashion, but given the Dark Elves reputation for skullduggery it’s feared that a ruthlessly ambitious prince or princess could quietly meet with Kahdisteria and enlist the aid of dozens of clever assassins to eliminate his or her siblings competing for the Imperial throne. It’s not just the Dark Elves that are a potential problem. Most fratricidal princes are motivated by personal ambition, but any political group could be a source of clandestine aid to a prince who is (or can fake) being sympathetic to their political view.

    Beneath the political undercurrents is a religious one. The followers of Zarthus, Nami, and Mera are growing in number and boldness. Even Phidas and Hallisan’s priesthood is pushing for more power. If competing influences erode the influence of the Church of Khemra, the Elven Empire may lose an important source of internal cohesion in the midst of so many conflicting factions.


    Nation of Kahdisteria


    History: Kahdisterians claim descent from the Second Age nation of Disteria, generally referred to in most ancient documents as the strongest Elven nation for much of the Second Age. Often viewed as the most ruthless. While they certainly have some Disterian blood, Kahdisteria, like the other two modern Elf nations, Kahdisteria’s ancestors include Second Age refugees from several places.

    The nation of Disteria was not the first target hit by the Demon Lord known as the Harbringer, but it was his destination. The refugees of Disteria fled across the length and breadth of Scarterra avoiding the Demon armies that continued to harry them. Spirits of Greymoria approached the refugees. They promised to protect the refugees if they pledged loyal to Greymoria. They accepted.

    Under the advice of their new guardian spirits, the refugees relocated as close to the south pole as possible, inhabiting the very ruins where the demons first launched their attacks. With mystical shielding provided by Greymoria, they sat quietly while hordes of newly arriving Demon Lords bypassed them not expecting to find mortal souls to consume in areas they already devastated. While the ancestors of the modern Dark Elves did fight some Demons, they essentially spent most of the Second Unmaking hiding while other mortals fought back.

    After the Unmaking was over, the Elves began seeking to rebuild the wonders of Disteria. While their numbers were relatively few they did have a great advantage. After generations of having Greymoria as their patron, they had a disproportionately high number of arcane spell casters, both practiced wizards and those manipulating hereditary magical abilities.

    While the Elves only had a fraction of the technology and lore of their ancestors at their peak, they still had better weapons, tools, and armor than the emerging Humans. The Kahdisterians figured the primitive Humans would make ideal laborers as just about any sapient race they could catch. Basically cementing the Kahdisterian’s nickname “Dark Elves” for all time.

    Slow and steady conquest and enslavement made it appear that Dark Elf domination of the continent was inevitable. It began slowing as the emerging Human nations rapidly increased in magical abilities and technology until they were on roughly equal footing with the modern Elves. Constant warfare and raids had served to unify all of Kahdisteria’s Human neighbors in a grand alliance against them.

    The Dark Elves may have still been able to win the continent were it not for internal conflicts. Slave revolts became increasingly common, often instigated by illusion savvy Gnomish partisans. Of greater concern was the Dark Elf liche known as Talisal who attempted a violent coup.

    After bitter fighting the Dark Elves made a treaty with the Order of Delas to free all Gnome slaves in return for a modest ransom and an agreement that the Gnomes would cease aiding resistance movements against Kahdisteria. The fighting with the Human nations didn’t end with a clean treaty. Basically they fought for decades until all sides got tired of conflict. Kahdisteria and the Human nations clashed back and forth until their shared borders evolved into a tall mountain range. With a potent natural barrier, large scale attacks by either side became impractical and an uneasy peace emerged.

    Since the end of the so-called Dark Elf Wars, Kahdisteria has greatly reduced the number of raids conducted to capture new slaves, relying on forced breeding to maintain their workforce. For centuries Kahdisteria did not engage in any major hostile acts and basically became an isolationist nation. That’s not to say raiding for slaves has stopped, they just switched to targets less likely to make organized reprisals, namely nomadic monstrous humanoids.

    In recent years they have attempted to peacefully engage with various Human nations in trade with limited success. With the Dark Elves reputations, few nations are eager to open their ports to visiting Dark Elves. Most of their increased trade is the result of Kahdisteria opening up their main port to foreign traders.

    It’s not all about peaceful interaction. They’ve been setting up bases on isolated islands and reconnoitering smaller distant nations. It is widely speculated that Kahdisteria is trying to set up friendly diplomatic ties with the larger Human nations, so they can attack smaller Human nations without drawing in webs of alliances against them.

    The Dwarf nations have basically refused to deal with the Dark Elves, even the famously open-minded Monderians won’t give the Dark Elves the time of day. Kahdisteria is locked in a complicated web of limited trade and brief military stand-offs with the Elven Empire. They seem equally like to begin a long friendship or along war with their Elven counterparts.

    Geography: I haven’t finalized my world map, but I’m picturing their borders have lots of mountains on one side and ocean on the other. Like Chile or Argentina.

    Economy: Kahdisteria gets their food from a mix of farming and fishing. They have adequate timberland and among the most productive mines not run by Dwarves. All of their industry is based heavily on slave labor. Because of their mass slavery offends nearly every nation on the Scarterra, Kahdisteria has historically done little in the way of peaceful trade. Only in recent years have they even begun to try.

    Government: Given that Kahdisteria recognizes Greymoria as their primary deity, the only acceptable ruler is a powerful arcane caster. The Supreme Leader or Raykar is always a powerful arcane caster of some kind. Usually a sorcerer or wizard, but any wielder or arcane magic is eligible.

    Kahdisteria follows a neo-feudalist model of government. Wealthy Dark Elves own most of the land. While their ownership of their land is sacrosanct, it doesn’t always correlate with a title. The Raykar appoints the positions regional rulers below him from among the land owners of that region. This appointees are called Raylisi (singular Raylis). They also appoint military leaders, advisors, and bureaucrats.

    Once per year, Kahdisteria has what is known as Challenge Day. Any Dark Elf with arcane ability is theoretically free to challenge the sitting Raykar on Challenge Day (though less than half of Challenge Days have an actual challenge). By tradition the challenger also has to declare why they think the incumbent is unfit to rule, normally an objection to a particular policy. If more than one person makes the challenge (rare) they will do preliminary fights between them over the next few days to determine who will be able to challenge the Raykar that year.

    The actual ritual combat takes place six months after Challenge Day. In many instances the Raykar tries to assassinate his/her would be challenger ahead of time. This is deliberate. If someone can’t avoid assassins for six months they have no business being Raykar. Conversely, A Raykar whose challengers all seem to die mysterious deaths is likely to appear weak and cowardly which will only attract more dangerous challengers. Raykar need to strike a careful balance on deciding who to fight and who to quietly eliminate. Most Raykar make it their business to know the capabilities and personalities of all their most powerful citizenry for this reason.

    The ritual combat occurs until one combatant is knocked unconscious, paralyzed by a spell, surrenders, or is killed. The loser of the challenge is branded. The Raykar’s scepter of office also doubles as a magical brand. The brand cannot be removed from any known magic. No one marked by the brand is ever allowed to challenge the Raykar again. One lich was famous for attempting pretty much every known magical procedure to remove (including transforming himself into a lich only to find the brand reappear on his bones after his flesh was gone).

    Note, the losers of challenges (ie the Branded) receive some backhanded status. Challenging the Raykar takes guts. The Branded often rise to positions of high status after losing, often becoming valued agents of the Raykar. Other Branded go into self-exile and leave Kahdisteria. Losers of the Raykar challenge deemed unlikely to be gracious losers are more likely to “accidentally” be killed during the fight. Predicting how a Branded is likely to behave after defeat is a another reason Raykar (and would-be Raykar) try to know as much as possible about Kahdisteria’s most powerful citizenry.

    What happens if the Raykar dies outside of a challenge? The council of high priests and high priestesses takes custodianship of the royal scepter and facilitate an open challenge. There are usually several volunteers for challenging for an open seat and it’s often set up as elimination style tournaments if the field of competitors is high. If there are relatively few challengers the council can require a winner to beat every other challenger.

    Once a new Raykar takes the scepter, they can replace or retain any Raylis they want. A Raykar who replaces most or all appointees is accused of cronyism and is likely to face several challenges. A Raykar that replaces very few if any appointees is considered weak willed or lazy and is likely to face several challenges to his/her position.

    After covering the top level of society, it’s time to cover the bottom. As mentioned before the economy is based on slavery. Slave social standing is heavily stratified. Half-Human slaves are held above Human slaves who are held above Goblin slaves. This is partially due to prejudice. The more similar a slave’s race is to being an Elf, the more valuable they are considered. There is also a strategic element. They encourage Goblins, Humans, and Half-Humans to resent each other, and it largely works. No slave revolt has managed to incorporate significant numbers of all three groups.

    Now to cover the relationship between the sexes. In general Elves are egalitarian and Dark Elves are not an exception. Inheritance is determined by birth order and does not discriminate between sons and daughters. The Raykar may be male or female. Though the overwhelming majority of challenges are men, female challengers have a better winning percentage. It’s joke that without testosterone, they don’t make challenges when they aren’t superbly confident in their chances.

    There is one aspect where Dark Elves are not egalitarian at all. That is producing Half-Humans. It’s considered normal, even tactily encouraged for males to sire Half-Humans, but it is highly scandalous for Dark Elf women to bear Half-Human offspring.


    Religious Practices:
    Kahdisteria’s religious leadership is made up of three high priests or priestesses of Greymoria, one of Korus, on of Phidas, and one of Maylar. In the even the council is deadlocked (usually when the Greymoria trio disagrees rather than the non-Greymoria priests banding together), a triumvirate made up of priests of Khemra, Nami, and Hallisan.

    While the Council of High Priests has little real power, it reflects the religious state of the nation fairly well. Greymoria priests are very influential advising most leaders and presiding over most state religious observances. Maylar and Phidas’ priesthoods have some influence. Maylar’s “rule by the fittest” philosophy heavily influences the way their supreme leader is chosen. Phidas’ influence is growing as Kahdisteria has greatly expanded their diplomatic and trading ties with other nations.

    Korus is acknowledged for his role in agriculture and nature but isn’t deeply venerated. Khemra is also lightly worshipped in a similar fashion. Khemra and Hallisan have very tiny priesthoods Kahdisterian priesthood and their Dark Elves priests are persona non grata amongst their sister temples in other lands. They are viewed as little better than heretics misapplying the endorsement of society and hardwork to justify mass slavery.

    Nami and Zarthus are kept at arm’s length. It’s bad luck to ignore one of the Nine altogether, but they want don’t the two rebel gods to inciting disloyalty among their slave populations. Nami gets an annual festival (and they even let the slaves celebrate), but Nami worship is usually quashed outside of the festival. Zarthus gets a festival once every nine years. When Dark Elves decide to free specific slaves for whatever reason, they often wait till Zarthus’ festival to do so. Mera is pretty much officially despised and is only briefly and reluctantly given credit for her contribution during the Rebellion during the anniversary of the Rebellion.

    Slaves are encouraged to follow the religious practices of their masters. They try to flout their master’s religion at every opportunity. Mera, Nami, and Zarthus are very popular indeed amongst the slave population. Sometimes they receive help rather than hindrance to this from sympathetic Dark Elves. You get rebels and malcontents in every group, and malcontents within Dark Elf society are often abolitionists.


    Demographics:
    About one third of the population is free and two thirds is slave. About 98% of the free population is Elves. The other 2% is split between freed slaves and their descendants and resident aliens moving in since Kahdisteria opened up their borders. The slave population is roughly 15% Half-Elf (though they are locally called Half-Humans), 43% Human, 37% Goblin, and about 5% Other.


    Challenges: Since ending their centuries old isolationist stance, this has created winners and losers among Dark Elf society. This has created internal divisions and increased the challenge rate against sitting Raykar. While there has been more turnover than usual, no reactionary new challenge victor has opted to reinstate the historical isolationism.

    There are Dark Elves that want to go back to the nation's isolationist roots. There are Dark Elves that want to peacefully and quietly amass wealth through trade. There are Dark Elves who want to use connections and information gained to facilitate careful militaristic expansion. There are Dark Elves that want to ally with the Elven Empire and bring the Human world to its knees. There are Dark Elves that want to ignore the Human world and conquer the Elven Empire. Those are just the common view points.

    It’s also possible that outside powers won’t let Kahdisteria choose how they interact with the outside world. The outside world may back Kahdisteria into a corner. The increased engagement with the outside world has renewed outsider attention on Kahdisteria’s practice. It’s hard to tell if their slavery or their open Greymoria worship offends people more.

    Appseldia doesn’t have the numbers or military might to challenge the Dark Elves but the Appseldian Assembly has been debating large scale assistance with slave resistance movement. Some Appseldian adventurers are already trying. The Appseldians aren’t the only source of aid to resistance movements. It’s also rumored that the Nine themselves are aiding the resistance. The number of Favored Souls popping up amongst the ranks of slave pens with increasing regularity.

    There is also the looming threat of a full scale military invasion. The Elven Empire is the most likely but a number of Human nations are also potential competitors. While no nation seems likely to mount aggression against Kahdisteria if one nation goes to war with Kahdisteria it is likely to embolden a wide variety of nations with an ancient grudge against the Dark Elves to follow suit and pile on.


    City State of Apseldia (Ap-SELL-deeya)


    History: The Elven Empire once controlled a much larger territory than it holds now, but they had to gradually ceded territory to various Human nations bit by bit. This conflict was rarely non-violent. What Humans call the Elven Wars and the Elves call the Receding Wars marked the peak of their conflict and sowed the seeds for the birth of Apseldia.

    When the Elves and Humans were at war, Half-Elves found themselves unwelcome in Human and Elven society alike, both sides assuming the half-breeds were against them. This prejudice was especially in border regions that changed hands between Humans and Elves often. Policies ranged from systematic discrimination to enslavement to acts of genocide.

    A party of Half-Elven adventurers (and one Gnome) spent decades struggling for the welfare of half-breeds. The party ended up gaining and losing members often. When the dust settled, a city that was conquered and liberated by Elves and Humans over and over again ended up in the control of the Half-Elf adventurers and their ragtag army. They repelled enough subsequent invasion attempts from both Humans and Elves, that the two warring parties both decided to settle “the half-breed problem” after they won the war. Both the original and newer members of the adventuring party are known in Apseldia as the Founders. You can hardly throw a rock in Apseldia without hitting a monument to one or more of the Founders.

    Neither Humans nor Elves definitely “won” the war. When the warring factions grew tired of the conflict and made a peace treaty officially recognizing the borders of their post-war lands, they also reluctantly recognized the city-state of Apseldia as a sovereign nation. Both sides rationalized that Apseldia would make a good neutral buffer state to separate them.

    After hostilities between Humans and Elves petered out, Apseldia spent the first century or so of their existence fending off no fewer than four attempts at conquest (three Human, one Elven), two of which were only defeated after extensive guerilla resistance on the part of a “conquered” populace. Once the major local powers in the region decided Apseldia was not worth the trouble of conquering, Apseldia reinvented themselves from being a refuge for scrappy half-breeds to be a prosperous trading hub.


    Geography: The name “Apseldia” refers to both the city and the lands claimed by the city.


    Economy: The lands around the city of Apseldia are rich and fertile. The coastal areas aren’t exactly teeming with fish but the city’s fishermen make respectable catches. Despite the wealth of food resources, Apseldia has to import a large portion of its grain and bulk foodstuff, largely because Apseldian farmers focus heavily on growing cash crops, especially wine and olives.

    Apseldia has a rich culture of artists and their works of art command a high price in other lands. Their practical craftsmen are respectable as well. Apseldia has little in terms of mineral wealth so ore and the like generally has to be traded for. Apseldia has enough timberland to meet their basic fuel needs, but they cannot sustain timber heavy industries such as ship building and buildings are made out of brick or sod more often than wood.

    A disproportionately high percentage of the population follows the “Dragon’s Way” (ie they have PC classes), so Apseldia is sort of a hub for hiring adventurers and is also a common place where adventurers retire to, not just Half Elves.


    Government: Laws are passed in an Athenian style democracy. The Apseldian Council meets twice a month to debate and pass laws and policies. All male Half-Elf citizens, who are at least thirty-five and Gnome citizens who are at least seventy may participate and vote in any meeting of the Apseldian Council though in reality rural citizens are lucky to be able to participate in two or three Councils per year. Because of this, the major decisions (and routine agricultural policies that largely impact the rural citzenry) are usually made in the Winter when farmers are least busy. Despite this accommodation, city Half-Elves easily possess both greater influence and greater knowledge in the political realm than their rural brethren

    The Speaker presides over Councils. The position is considered a burden as much as a prestige. Speakers serve two-year terms and are chosen by lot from the whole Half-Elf populations (Gnomes are not eligible). If the chosen Speaker refuses, another one is selected until someone takes the mantle. It is generally considered bad form to refuse the title of Speaker though Half-Elves who don’t live in the city proper can opt out with no social reprucssions. Half-Elves never serve as the Speaker twice.

    The General of Apseldia’s army is elected by a vote every two years (alternating with new Speaker selection), often with many run-off votes. The title is highly coveted and holds great prestige. The position of General usually falls to a popular retired adventurer. There is no term limit, and the incumbency rate for the Generalship is high.

    The Guardian is also elected, their job is to watch over the police force, called the peacekeepers. The position is considered fairly prestigious but also fairly onerous, as Apseldians take the question of “who guards the guardians?” very seriously. The Guardian serves three-year terms and can expect to be reelected if nothing major happened in their tenure. Still Guardians get raked lambasted for making necessary but unpopular decisions often.

    Ambassadors are also elected, but the posts are not often contested. It’s generally hard enough to find one Half Elf willing and able to serve as an ambassador to a foreign nation, so the vote confirming them is a formality. Ambassadors who seem too eager for the post attract suspicion and the ones likely to get voted down.

    The culture prefers few rules and regulations but the nature of Council Voting can create a lot of rules to seemingly micromanage things. Peacekeepers generally have a lot of leeway to enforce or not enforce rules as they see fit. As long as their decisions more or less consistently seem aimed at the common good, everyone is happy. As alluded to before, the Guardian takes the heat when things go bad.

    In general the Peacekeepers encourage people to work out their own problems which has mixed results. This is more than a cultural preference, relative to other cities, the peacekeepers are not very numerous, so they can’t get involved everywhere. Cultural norms often take the place of laws with minor infractions involving the perpetrator facing social derision rather than a formal punishment. If an offense is both major and the offender is powerful, the peacekeepers generally have leave to deputize volunteers (which can usually be found without strong arming people because vigilantism is so popular).


    Religious Practices: Zarthus is the state religion but, officially all religious practices are welcome. Unofficially, worshippers, and especially priests, of deities on the outs with Zarthus had best be somewhat discrete.

    Apseldia is the only land in Scarterra where Zarthus’ Priesthood could qualify as being “the Man.” This has both strengthened and weakened the local temple’s ties with their brethren elsewhere. Priests of Zarthus are involved in most state functions. They provide magical support to the military and police force. They count the votes and oversee the lotteries for positions. Their words carry much weight in the Apseldian Council, but they rarely make their voices heard at the assembly. The ranking priests of Zarthus prefer to let the lay members of the Council sort out their own issues and discourage their underlings from pushing too hard on the political machine without dire need.

    Mera is widely worshipped by Apseldians, especially rural Apseldians, fishermen and sailors. Mera has the most temples and shrines in Apseldia though her places are generally small. Almost every Apseldian Mera priest or priestess is of the Terrawan tradition.

    The priesthood of Hallisan maintains a chapel in the city. Apart from the members of the army (which includes a few priests of Hallisan among them), most Apseldians only worship Hallisan on his holy days.

    The city houses a large temple dedicated to Nami. Given how friendly Zarthus and Nami usually are, Apseldia City has more enthusiastic worshippers of Nami than one usually sees. The temple also serves as a haven and communication hub for Nami circuit priests in the surrounding nations. Influence from Zarthus’ priesthood has gradually biased the Nami temple into favoring the Gentle Breeze faction of the greater priesthood. Many believe it’s only a matter of time before the Apseldian Nami temple draws the ire of some of Nami’s more radical followers.

    Like in many nations, Korus worship is broad but not very deep in Apseldia. The countryside is dotted with small shrines to him. Most Apseldian priests consider themselves Stewards of the Gift rather than Stewards of the Dominion. Given that there is very little land not used for agriculture or settlement, Stewards of the Dominion find Apseldia mildly unpleasant. The only actual temple to Kous is in the city itself. The Korus priests there are well used to serving as mediators to disagreeing groups though the locals generally call on them as a last resort. Many of the disputes they mediate are not Apseldian at all. Foreign priestly factions sometimes travel to Apseldia as neutral ground for Korus priests to help mediate their issues. The fact that Apseldia is a good place to sell wands and potions adds to the appeal of the location.

    Greymoria has a few shrines dedicated to her, but no temples. Most Apseldians pay their respects to Greymoria on her holy days and pretend she doesn’t exist the rest of the year. Apseldians who view Greymoria as their primary deity (nearly always arcane spell casters) generally keep their religious preferences quiet. Greymoria priests in Apseldia tend to be very mercenary in outlook, selling magical services for coin, no questions asked. If they have a agenda beyond making gold, they haven’t shown it yet.

    Khemra has a large but very modest shrine in the city that theoretically has the amenities of a temple. Apseldians generally make a small offering or prayer at the shrine once a year (if that often). Khemra priests or worshippers visiting are free to stay there no charge, but most prefer to stay in inns rather than the dusty worn down “temple” of their goddess believing the Apseldians deliberately make it uncomfortable.

    Maylar has a small temple in the capital that was, until recently, generally empty. Venerations to Maylar were originally performed by Zarthus priests at proscribed times. Amongst the first wave of Half-Orc immigrants came a single Maylar Priest claiming affiliation with the Herders of Men. Zarthus’ priesthood watches him like a hawk for signs of violence of subversive activity. Once in a while the Decadent movement crops up amongst the wealthier citizenry of Apseldia. If Decadents united with Half-Orc Maylar worshipers they could theoretically do a lot of damage, but for now the Half-Orcs seem to be playing nice. If they worship Maylar at all, they do so alongside the more socially acceptable among the Nine.

    Phidas is even less welcome. Few Apseldians even give his holy days the most perfunctory acknowledgement. Publicly worshipping Phidas is a good way to attract local scorn. The local peacekeepers will usually not lift a finger to help a Phidas priest should the scorn turn violent. As for secret Phidas worship, few even try. The policy set by the Pontiff that theoretically has jurisdiction over Phidas’ interests in Apseldia has officially (and publicly) announced a hands-off policy towards Apseldia. He says when the Zarthus’ priests of Apseldia buckle under the pressure of having to help govern rather than sew anarchy. “They will fall by their own weakness soon enough. Let us not let them be able to blame Phidas for interfering.”


    Demographics: The majority of Apseldia’s population is made up of Half-Elves. The city is open to any Half-Elf immigrant (and to Humans and Elves who have Half-Elf children), but most of the population is made up of people with two Half-Elf parents rather than a Human and an Elf. Generally speaking, even racially intolerant Half-Elves will not begrudge a fellow Half-Elf for having a different background.

    Most of the cities Elven ancestry can be traced back to the Elven Empire though the number of Half-Elf immigrants from the Empire is dropping as the Empire is trying to become more accommodating to their Half-Human citizens.

    During the time of the Founders, Apseldia had taken in a lot of Half-Sylvan Elves, but there have been very few Half-Elves immigrants of Sylvan ancestry since then. Nearly all of the half Sylvan Elves were raised by Humans. The lack of wild places makes Apseldia uncomfortable for anyone raised with Sylvan Elf sensibilities.

    Few Apseldians have Dark Elf ancestry, but half Dark Elves make up the bulk of their new immigrants. Most are runaway slaves that settle in Apseldia for a welcoming haven. Some of them had their freedom purchased by sympathetic wealthy Apseldians. A few of them were legally freed by their Dark Elf masters and sought Apseldia as a new home. The few Dark Elves with abolitionist sympathies often help Half-Human former slaves find passage to Apseldia.

    Humans make up the second largest population bloc after Half-Elves. The last of the Founders to pass away spoke passionately for not oppressing Humans and Elven minorities and most have taken his words for gospel. More and more Half-Elves are having second thoughts about Humans at least. The offspring of a Human pairing with a Half-Elf is a Human, and Human-Human generations take less time to mature. Many doomsayers believe that Humans could outbreed them within a few generations and take over Apseldia within a few centuries. On the other side of the coin, Humans and their Half-Elf relatives are clamoring to give Humans the right to vote at Council meetings, at least Humans with Half-Elf blood relatives. While Half-Elves fear they are being bred out, few have picked up the irony that their old oppressors the Elven Empire is dealing with almost identical issues and fears at the moment.

    Gnomes are the third largest group. The rural countryside has one Gnomish village and the city has a Gnomish quarter, but Gnomes are generally welcome anywhere. Since one of the Founders was a Gnome (and he has monuments around the city just like the other Founders), Gnomes enjoy a societal status above all other non Half-Elves. Also the Gnomes’ numbers are small and stable, so only the most xenophobic Half-Elves do any less than fully embrace their Gnome citizenry. Still, many Gnomes grumble that seventy years minimum age of voting is not a fair equivalent to a Half-Elves’ thirty-five years of age figuring fifty would be more accurate. The Apseldian Gnomes are generally the most vocal proponents for a greater inclusion of more non-Half-Elves.

    Elves make up the fourth largest population bloc. Because Elves have tried to conquer Apseldia less often than Humans have (in recent centuries anyway) and the fact that Elves are not a risk for “breeding out” the Half-Elves since an Elf pairing with a Half-Elf always creates a Half-Elf, Elven residents are generally accepted with relatively few reservations. A small number of Imperial Elves find their homeland stifling and choose to take up residence in Apseldia. Relatively few stay for their whole lives unless they marry a Human or Half-Elf (in which case they may stay still only as long as their spouse lives). Many are bachelors or spinsters though a few expatriate Elves have married Elves in Apseldia. Thus Appseldia actually has a few “native” Elves. Full Sylvan Elves rarely seek to become permanent residents, especially if they don’t have Half-Human children, but they often visit Apseldia on their Rumspringas. Dark Elves are generally not welcome. Even outspoken abolitionists find the city dangerous for them. After Apseldia’s first expatriate Dark Elf was found murdered along with his Half-Elf wife and child, no Dark Elf has sought to stay in the city longer than it takes to make a quick business deal or drop off some ex-slaves, but even

    Half-Orcs make up the fifth largest bloc and are poised to overtake the full Elves in numbers relatively soon. Half-Orcs typically have upbringings at least as rough as Half-Elves did during the time of the Founders, and most Half-Elves would feel like hypocrites turning them away. Still hypocrisy runs deep in both Human and Elf culture. Fortunately Apseldia is so far removed from most lands with Orcs so they don’t get a lot of direct prejudice, but they still look comparably monstrous to everyone else. Most Half-Orc Apseldians are first or second generation citizens and most have joined the army or peacekeepers. Nearly every Half-Orc is at least a reservist.

    Other races make up an almost negligible presence in Apseldia and are rarely found outside of the city. They are generally present to engage in trade and do little else.


    Challenges: The biggest challenge to Apseldia is their changing demographics. Their biggest challenge is simple logistics. Already, the nation cannot produce enough food to feed the population. As the population continues to grow, the risk of starvation increases. As long as trade is booming, Apseldia can more than make up for their shortcomings with imports, but a trade shock could be devastating. It’s been a long time since an outside force has attempted to conquer Apseldia, but an outsider could theoretically bring the whole nation to its knees by forcibly restricting trade. A small but growing number of Half-Elves have voiced the opinion that Apseldia should conquer some additional crop land to head off this possibility. Others have talked about restricting new immigrants.

    As Humans numbers grow, more Half-Elves on the Council urge letting Humans vote and participate, others urge taking up measures to discourage full Humans from living among them to keep Appseldia as a ture Half-Elf nation. The status quo is holding for now: full Humans have no voting rights, but they are not actively being oppressed. Social pressures mount on all sides of the issue.

    While (almost) no Apseldian would counsel turning away Half-Elf refugees from Kahdisteria, there is debate the ethical and practical implications of whether or not Apseldia should make efforts via coin, sword, or magic to proactively liberate larger numbers of foreign Half-Elves from slavery. Many believe to not bend their full efforts towards liberating their distant brethren as a betrayal of the Founder’s principles. Opponents argue that internal population pressures cannot handle a mass immigration of new Half-Elves, and point out that they can ill afford to provoke a full military response by the Dark Elves.

    Orcs live hundreds of miles away, so Apseldia has never faced an Orc attack though stories of Orcs spread faster than the Orcs themselves. Half-Elf attitudes towards Half-Orcs are mixed and sharply divided. Many find their “fellow” Half-Humans to be unsettling. Some are threatened by them. Others declare that Apseldia must be open to them if they are to be true to the Founder’s ideals of providing a haven for discriminated half-breeds. Other say the opposite is true since the Founders specifically wanted to create a Half-Elf haven not a haven for all Half-Humans. Some use pragmatic arguments declaring them as a major boon to the military (or stating the security risks of relying on half-orcs for their defense).

    While fiercest arguments in the Assembly involve responses to changing demographics, a more insidious internal threat looms over Appseldia: the guilds. During the Assembly, all the various guilds usually vote as one solid bloc, at least if the issue at hand affects them. The guilds leaders often meet separately from the assembly to hash out what policies they want passed ahead of time. They also have a tendency to introduce business based votes when the attendance at the assembly is relatively small and the guild can muscle through laws virtually unopposed.

    Since the majority of the Apseldians tend toward Chaotic Good viewpoints, this causes grumbling. At the moment the guild leaders are predominantly Lawful Good so grumbling is all the dissenters are doing. In fact, many quietly appreciate Apseldia is the largest city in Scarterra without a thieves guild and they credit the other guilds backed votes for securing this. If the guilds slide towards more selfish policy it’s likely to produce a backlash. One possible scenario is that the Assembly passes guild friendly laws during low turnout assemblies and the populace repeals the recently passed laws at the next high turnout assembly. This will grind the Assembly’s ability to get things done to nothing. An even worse case scenario is if a substantial portion of the populace simply decides the Assembly lost all legitimacy and just choses to stop obeying all laws they dislike. Then Apseldia would quickly degenerate into anarchy.



    Nation of Swynfaredia (Sween-far-red-eeya)


    History: In the days earliest days of humanity four dragons (known to Swynferidians as the Great Ones or the Four) decided to take an active role in shepherding the Humans in their area. They sired half-dragons to lead the early Swynferidians in their stead. These Half-Dragons married ordinary Humans and diluted the line but a talent for sorcery remained strong in the noble lines.

    The formed a feudal monarchy similar to what was found in other regions though the vast majority of their nobles had sorcerous talent. The talent for sorcery gradually thinned and at one point the heir to the monarchy had no innate arcane talents at all. His younger brother challenged his right to the kingship and this initiated the Blood War (because most of the fighting feudal lords were related by blood).

    The sorcerer nobles won. They rewrote succession rules to apply to the eldest male direct descendant with sorcerous ability. If none had it, a female direct descendant would inherit. Otherwise they picked they closest blood relative with sorcerous talent they could find.

    Their tendency to elevate sorcerers to high positions caused many sorcerers not descended from the Four to flock to Swynfaredia (which helped the royal families avoid inbreeding issues). With a high number of sorcerers they were able to expand militarily multiple times in their history.


    Geography: Haven’t decided where to put Swynferidia yet.


    Economy: Swynfaredia has an agrarian economy based primarily on staple crops. They are generally self-sufficient in other regards. They have ample timberland and respectable mineral wealth, many gained by past conquests.

    With possibly the highest number of arcane spell casters in the entire world, there is substantial trade in magical items. Many sorcerers on are on a spell registry that lets others know what spells they have which sustains a barter system of spell-casting services amongst the upper classes. While technically second-class to sorcerers, Swynfaredia hosts many wizards who make a substantial business out of selling scrolls and potions that cover obscure spells sorcerers rarely use.


    Government: Swynfaredia is a feudal monarchy ruled by a king and queen or occasionally a queen and consort. Like most feudal societies, each lord manages a parcel of land, takes a portion of the peasants’ crops and pays a portion of their land’s wealth to their liege. The king is served by dukes who are served by counts and barons. Counts barons are on the same tier for managing lands but barons are feudal lords who are not sorcerers, thus given less esteem.

    The royal throne, as well as the ducal and county thrones pass to the eldest direct male heir with sorcery if possible. If there are no male heirs with sorcery, titles pass to the eldest direct female heir with sorcery. If no direct heirs have sorcererous ability. Then titles pass to indirect relatives via complicated rules (often modified by political jockeying). Baronies are lifetime appointments but they do not normally pass to the Barons heirs. Baronies are used as prizes for favored non-sorcerer children of ranking nobles. Swynfaredia does not include covens or bishoprics.

    Every lord from Barons up to the king are served by one or more personal knights. While some lords do have military inclinations their soldiers are usually lead by knights. Most knights are the non-sorcerer children of nobility, many are hex blades. Some knights are sorcerers, though relatively few sorcerer knights can trace a lineage to the Four.

    Even without a title, sorcerers are given high social standing and enjoy more privileges then the general populace. The ruling all at least have a tenuous link to one or more of the Four (usually all of the Four thanks to intermarriage), thus they are known as Royal Bloods. Sorcerers who can definitively trace their lineage to a known Dragon (or can fake a Draconic ancestor) are known as Dragon Bloods. Non-royal Dragon Bloods are typically the most prized knights. It’s not hard for Dragon Bloods to marry into the nobility, as the Royal Bloods want to maintain their sorcerous potency while avoiding inbreeding. All sorcerers (in theory) are allowed into Swynfaredia, a powerful sorcerer with definitive dragon relatives will often be invited in.

    Sorcerers without definitive a Dragon lineage are known as the Witch Touched, or more politely “Greymoria’s Favored.” They can obtain the position of knighthood pretty easily. Many attain the position of Ancillary, an authorized agent of a noble without a knight’s lands or status. It’s fairly uncommon for Witch Touched sorcerers to marry into the nobility. Non-human sorcerers are often serve as an Ancilliaries, but it is very rare for one to be knighted unless they are exceptionally powerful.

    There is a very complicated system for ranking the social standing. The gist of it is magic users are above non magic users and sorcerers are at the top of the heap but birth order and family factors in so a hex blade related to a duke probably outranks a Witch Touched Sorcerer.

    With non-spellcasters there are still many levels. Swynferidian law states that no one is born into serfdom, but the peasants don’t have a whole lot of mobility options. The Burgher class has a fair number of social divisions based on their craft and there is a secondary layer of nobility for the non-spellcasting descendants of the ruling class.


    Religious Practices: Swynfaredia does not have a state sponsor among the Nine. As a whole, the nobility acknowledge the Nine but are not deeply pious putting faith in their own power (and the Four).

    Hallisan has one Temple and a few Chapels. His worship is broad but not particularly deep. Given Hallisan’s issues with Greymoria, and the number of hex blades and sorcerers in the army, the army is not the usual haven for Hallisan worship it is in other lands.

    Khemra is the closest thing the Swynferidians have to a patron deity. She has temples in the more sizeable towns and most nobles’ castles have at least a shrine to her.

    Phidas worship is fairly strong in the more populous areas while Phidas is almost ignored in the countryside. Phidas temples in Swynfaredia are as much banks as they are places of worship.

    Mera is the most widely worshipped deity by the lower classes. Swynfaredia has absorbed enough surrounding cultures that there is a roughly even mix between Terrawan and Walchese temples. Given the popularity of Mera with the masses, nobles normally at least pay her lip service.

    Relative to other civilized nations, Swynfaredia has a lot of Stewards of the Dominion relative to Stewards of the Gift. Generally the sorcerer nobility and the Korus priests acknowledge each other, but generally leave the other group alone. There is a small temple to Korus in the capital, but the Korus priests do not perform the typically mediating duties there that they traditional perform in larger cities.

    Swynferidians have a love-hate relationship with Greymoria. As the goddess of magic, many Swynferidian nobles believe they have kinship with her. Given how disliked she is by commoners, nobles would prefer not rub their Greymoria worship in their subjects’ faces. Also many Greymoria worshippers elsewhere claim wizards are closer to Greymoria than sorcerers. A point Swynferidian generally disagree with.

    Swynferidian whole-hearted acceptance of the so-called Sorcerers’ Heresy estranges the local Greymoria priests from those elsewhere. Even the Sorcerers’ Heresy isn’t a perfect fit since Swynferidians who view Greymoria as their patron deity tend to put little stock in the nobility’s pure draconic heritage (draconic heritage only works when combined with Greymoria’s blessing). Bearers of the Book and Shadow Hunters alike are generally unwelcome in Swynfaredia. All things put together, Swynfaredia has public Greymoria temples rather than secret ones, but they are fairly modest temples. Swynferidian nobles pay homage to Greymoria at the prescribed times than go about their business, much like with the rest of the Nine.

    Zarthus has a few temples in the most populated areas and Swynferidian nobles make a show of their patronage of the arts, but this rarely satisfies Zarthus’ worshippers. Especially in areas conquered relatively recently, Zarthus temples tend to be secret and Zarthus worshippers are generally a thorn in the side of Swynfaredia’sruling class. Because of this Swynferidian Zarthus priests and their followers tend to be much more opposed to arcane magic than Zarthus’ worshippers elsewhere.

    Like in many places Nami is worshipped heavily on her holy days as an excuse to party then ignored most of the year. Shrines to Nami are not hard to find, usually empty but packed to the brim on her holy days. There is one large Nami temple that serves as a base for Circuit Priests. It also serves as a haven for nomadic Nami priests and worshippers of all types, including the Bachites and Liberators. Thus far, the Swynferidian nobles have yet to seek action against the temple, but it may only be a manner of time.

    Officially, Swynfaredia allows worship for any of the Nine, but unofficially Maylar worship is generally not tolerated. Maylar has a few shrines here and there but there is no permanent temple with a full-time priest in Swynfaredia. Maylar’s worshippers are generally indifferent to Swynfaredia, but their actions are usually hostile the few times they choose to deal with sorcerer-led nation.


    Demographics: Swynfaredia’s population is about 90% Human. Sorcery can show up in any race, but most Swynferidians are not sorcerers. While a non-Human sorcerer could find a well-paying position in they will not be given any true authority.

    Gnomes make up about 5% of the population. They generally live in quiet all-gnome communities and pay their taxes like everyone else. There are proportionally as many gnome sorcerers in Swynfaredia as anywhere else (in other words they are rare). Most non-foreign wizards in the country are Gnomes. Gnomes who are not wizards generally prefer to keep Swynferidian nobles at arm’s length, but some serve jobs such as tutors to wealthy families.

    Most Dwarves do not see a lot of appeal in working in a land controlled by Human sorcerers. Dwarves in Swynfaredia typically find employ working in mines, usually as foremen. They often sell their wares in the larger townships.

    Elves visit, but they rarely stay. The rare sorcerer from the Elven Empire occasionally does move to the area given how the Empire is not particularly sorcerer friendly. Wood Elves or Dark Elves may visit but none have yet to stay. Few Elves means few Half-Elves too. Half-Orcs are marginally more common but not by much.

    Kobolds have a lot of sorcerers amongst them and Kobold Sorcerers are allowed in, but they rarely get many accommodations for their non-sorcerer family members. Given how clan-centered Kobold culture is, few stay long.

    Paradoxically, Half-Dragons are generally discouraged from moving in. Given how much of the political legitimacy is tied to having “Dragon Blood”, the powers that be do not want the status quo challenged by outsiders with extremely obvious Dragon lineage.


    Challenges: Commoners often are suspicious and resentful of magic users and they are often suspicious and resentful of nobles. While Swynferidian nobles are not particularly cruel as a rule, they deal with a more resentful populace than most. Swynfaredia has conquered a number of lands. Many of their populations wish for a return to self-rule. The barely understood mystical power of their foreign rulers makes things even more intolerable.

    Wizards can wield a lot of economic power from trade, but they are constantly reminded of how they are second to sorcerers. Divine casters are much the same way and this creates resentment towards the sorcerer nobility. Despite the prominence put on arcane magic, Greymoria is not given particularly high status. Many of her worshippers seek to rectify this.

    There are a lot of children of nobility who feel cheated out of their inheritance by a quirk of chance. Many follow the Dragons’ Path (have high levels in PC classes) in their own fashion and have positions of influence in the army. Witch Touched sorcerers often resent being bossed around by Dragon Blooded sorcerers with much less mystical power than them (the lower level Witch Touched just put up with it).

    There are persistent rumors of Dragon and Half-Dragon descendants of the Four living today. Nobles generally squash such rumors. If any Dragon or Half-Dragons reveal themselves they can easily make a bid for power that few could legitimately deny.

    With all the bubbling resentment and oppressed factions, the wrong person sneezing could start a rebellion or a civil war.
     
    Last edited: Sep 22, 2015
  5. Scalenex
    Slann

    Scalenex Keeper of the Indexes Staff Member

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  6. Scalenex
    Slann

    Scalenex Keeper of the Indexes Staff Member

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  7. Scalenex
    Slann

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  8. n810
    Slann

    n810 First Spawning

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    Hey Scalenex have you tried 5th edition, it's a lot easier on the DM then previous editions. ;)
    (I'm in a 5th edition campaign myself as a player)
     
  9. Scalenex
    Slann

    Scalenex Keeper of the Indexes Staff Member

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    I hear good things about 5th edition but I am currently running an on again off again Old World of Darkness Game and am about to try playing another GM's Shadow Run.

    By the time I'm ready to run a Scarterran game, we may be facing D&D sixth edition.

    Also, I'm cheap, and don't want to buy new books for a game I may never run.. My friends kind of communally share 2nd and 3.5 books between us and Pathfinder is free.
     
  10. n810
    Slann

    n810 First Spawning

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    I think there is a free condensed version on D&D website....
    if your curious...
     

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