Post by thuellai on Feb 16, 2010 0:37:30 GMT -5
Wouldn't mind talking about this, it's been a personal project. Actually right now looking for a good role for dwarves that isn't quite "they're dwarves", along with general ideas and questions. Some fundamental keynotes of the setting:
Geographically, Illitheralis is a desert, with a dead sea towards the southeast corner and rocky badlands spread across the land. There are few mountains and little water outside extensions of the dead sea that stretch out to a good portion of the southern part of Teiral, though they are occasionally cut off by sandbars, making ocean-based travel mostly impractical.
Historically, Illitheralis was crafted by the gods as an epitomized version of their domains, and was originally a beautiful and lush world, where the Divine Word was literally inscribed into all of creation. This became a problem when the Goddess of the Green, who crafted the lush and immense variety of life on Illitheralis, was killed. Her energy was inverted, and much of what she created was twisted into a mockery of its own nature and became the Underworld, the realm of the dead. This Underworld is a fetid, Darwinian rainforest, full of deadly and poisonous life that is inhumanly fit, as any weak thing will be destroyed in the savage lands of the dead. The other Gods created the Warforged as servants who could hopefully penetrate the Underworld and bring their lost member back to them to be restored, but when the Warforged seemed to have failed, the Gods packed up and left only their Word behind. The Warforged are back, and they have the corpse of the Goddess, and also they are very, very angry.
The alignment section is less damning - Orcs [and their sub-species], Yuan-Ti, and Drow all have significant roles in the story in a non-evil sense [though the Drow were foreign invaders and thus evil for a significant portion of history], and I actually have a homebrew Yuan-Ti player profile that I call on when necessary for mechanics. The only absolutely evil forces are those who have emerged from the Underworld, and the Djinn who follow Iblis, as he himself is a chaotic evil overlord.
The cultural influence for the races and much of the mythology are primarily those that have been influential in Western/Central Asia. Sumerian, Persian, Kurdish, Russian, and Macedonian cultures are all referenced.
The gods are not active in this world, but once were, and their divine connection to the plane is a major source of conflict and the reasoning behind many major events. Clerics are common and the plane is inherently divine.
Steam-punk elements are welcome so long as they don't interfere with established settings elements too much [for example, trains have been looked away from as a majority option because the Halflings have a number of Bedouin elements and are the premier source of horseback mercenaries and also travel by caravan across the world, though they might persist in limited areas.]
Human-centric models will not be accepted. Humans in this setting are primarily raiders and nomads, with a few Balkanized nations persisting, mostly under the leadership of a [Chaotic Neutral] King. Don't worry, he makes it work. They also work closely alongside the Yuan-Ti.
Toss any other [4e-playable] races my way and I'll give you a model of their particular fluff.
Geographically, Illitheralis is a desert, with a dead sea towards the southeast corner and rocky badlands spread across the land. There are few mountains and little water outside extensions of the dead sea that stretch out to a good portion of the southern part of Teiral, though they are occasionally cut off by sandbars, making ocean-based travel mostly impractical.
Historically, Illitheralis was crafted by the gods as an epitomized version of their domains, and was originally a beautiful and lush world, where the Divine Word was literally inscribed into all of creation. This became a problem when the Goddess of the Green, who crafted the lush and immense variety of life on Illitheralis, was killed. Her energy was inverted, and much of what she created was twisted into a mockery of its own nature and became the Underworld, the realm of the dead. This Underworld is a fetid, Darwinian rainforest, full of deadly and poisonous life that is inhumanly fit, as any weak thing will be destroyed in the savage lands of the dead. The other Gods created the Warforged as servants who could hopefully penetrate the Underworld and bring their lost member back to them to be restored, but when the Warforged seemed to have failed, the Gods packed up and left only their Word behind. The Warforged are back, and they have the corpse of the Goddess, and also they are very, very angry.
The alignment section is less damning - Orcs [and their sub-species], Yuan-Ti, and Drow all have significant roles in the story in a non-evil sense [though the Drow were foreign invaders and thus evil for a significant portion of history], and I actually have a homebrew Yuan-Ti player profile that I call on when necessary for mechanics. The only absolutely evil forces are those who have emerged from the Underworld, and the Djinn who follow Iblis, as he himself is a chaotic evil overlord.
The cultural influence for the races and much of the mythology are primarily those that have been influential in Western/Central Asia. Sumerian, Persian, Kurdish, Russian, and Macedonian cultures are all referenced.
The gods are not active in this world, but once were, and their divine connection to the plane is a major source of conflict and the reasoning behind many major events. Clerics are common and the plane is inherently divine.
Steam-punk elements are welcome so long as they don't interfere with established settings elements too much [for example, trains have been looked away from as a majority option because the Halflings have a number of Bedouin elements and are the premier source of horseback mercenaries and also travel by caravan across the world, though they might persist in limited areas.]
Human-centric models will not be accepted. Humans in this setting are primarily raiders and nomads, with a few Balkanized nations persisting, mostly under the leadership of a [Chaotic Neutral] King. Don't worry, he makes it work. They also work closely alongside the Yuan-Ti.
Toss any other [4e-playable] races my way and I'll give you a model of their particular fluff.