My Fantasy RPG World, Feedback and Ideas appreciated

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Scarterra's World Anvil Wiki

Page 1
Basic Intro, Cliff Notes of the Nine, Overview of the nation of Fumaya's basic concept, the three dwarf nations, Major noble houses of Kantoc, loose discussion of heraldry

Page 2
Hypothetical Exotic Magical Locations, Kobold culture in great detail

Page 3
Hypothetical Exotic Magical Locations. Discussion on Crime Syndicate in Fumaya, The sorcerous nation of Swynfaredia, early world map of Scarterra

Page 4
Discussion on Crime Syndicate.

Page 5
Animal minions of the Nine, more on the Crime Syndicate,

Page 6
Priestly titles, Void demons, initial discussions on Potionomics and alchemy, disease in Scarterra

Page 7
Godly Zodiacs and the calendar. Assorted myths of how things came to be, climate, weather, disease, minerals, the tides

Page 8
Dragons in great detail. Awesome diagram of minerals entering Scarterra. Unnecessary tangent to undead diseases in Shadowrun, Discussion on the shape of the world, sphere versus cylinder, initial speculation on how cosmetic race should look in Scarterra.

Page 9
RPGs in video games versus tabletop. Elemental forces as catalyst for race. Fatigue and armor rules, Dark Elf nation of Kahdisteria

Page 10
Colassian Confederacy Nations, Implications of a world with monsters, more on elemental forces as a catylist for race, Gnolls in depth

Page 11
The real world science of weather and how it would logically apply to the illogical cylinder shaped world of Scarterra.

Page 12
Adding details to kenku, more plane stuff, crime syndicate discussion, overview of spirits

Page 13
Crime syndicate discussion (plans), The City of King's Lake, discussion of castles/medieval society and magic, spell list

Page 14
More on magic in castles and medieval society being changed by magic. Combat skills and how common it is

Page 15
More discussion on weapons and skills at arms. Initial concept of the Border Baronies. 6 or 7 Border Baronies in detail

Page 16
More Border Baronies, more Mycanid discussion, discussion on magical orders, initial discussion of my gnomish cobbler hero hypothetical novel, brief covering of fantasy hybrids.

Page 17
Magical Mcguffin brainstorming for my hypothetical novel.

Page 18
Ghosts and ghost powers, fantasy horses, cyclopes, Spirit Loas, Silverwood trees

Page 19
Initial brainstorming about the Sea, aka Scaraqua. Scaraquan Myth for Creation of Life

Page 20
Plate tectonics, more Scaraquan discussion, Summary of the Void Demon Lords, discussion of how well informed about history Scarterrans and Scaraquans are, the Karakhai (sharkmen)

Page 21
More Scaraquan discussion, assorted map scribbling and discussion

Page 22
Map scribbling and discussion, afterlife discussion, Parts of the Soul cosmology, update on my active game, tangent on skeleton and zombie's damage resistance

Page 23
More on damage absorption capabilities of various creatures, Tangents on Mesopotamian Gods and D&D 5th edition, Updated World Map of Scarterra, PCs close a story chapter in my campaign

Page 24
Discussion of Magical laws, followup map discussion, lots of brainstorming on dungeon design.

Page 25
Discussion of Scarterra's "Prime Meridian," PCs complete the dungeon. Musings on adding new fictional nations to my fictional world.

Page 26
Hypothetical Sea Elf Nation, Hypothetical Kenku Nation, Magical and exotic means of improving communication and travel.

Page 27
Musing and discussion on elementals, the Elemental Plane, hypothetical elemental god(s), initial discussion of developing underground biomes and adventure setting. Bat People (Camazotz and Kalazotz)

Page 28
Follow up on Bat People, Update of my RPG in process, Trolling the Thread (pun), The Astral Plane,

Page 29
Astral Plane followup, Discussing a new name for "Kenku", Details on Khemra and her followers, tangent on me complaining about an overly woke RPG forum, informal brainstorm of including sphinxes

Page 30
Details on Mera and her followers, Details on Nami and her followers, discussion on magically binding curses, blessings, and oaths from non-spell-casters, Details on Phidas and his followers, Details on Zarthus and his followers, Update on my last RPG session, Details on Maylar and his followers

Page 31
Details on Hallisan and his followers, Details on Korus and his followers. Musing on metaphysics of arcane magic. Initial brainstorming on Swynfaredian noble houses. Revisiting Bat people, Establishing the Founding Dragons of Swynfaredia. I experiment with World Anvil

Page 32
Scarterran Elves in broad strokes, Developing a few Swynfaredian Houses. Loose discussion of the underground portion of my setting, Camazotz in detail, Kalazotz in detail,

Page 33
More discussion of bat people (zotz), profiles on historical Swynfaredians of House Fremiss, discussion on iconography for Scarterra, hypothetical tree people, language musing, sorcery musing, Establishing a set Calendar for Scarterra, Plantinum Peaks Border Barony, Art Musing, tentative plot outline for my novel

Page 34
Novel discussion, Ocean Currents as a means of travel in Scaraqua, Virdilut, aka Scaraquan Green Stuff, Heraldry and naming discussion, setting a fictional calendar year

Page 35
Food crops in Scarterra, Nilen's character and family, hard world building versus soft world building, expanding the names of the Nine, adding details to the Barony of the Dead, more calendar musing.

Page 36
Psionics Brainstorming, Scarterran Holidays dedicated to the Nine, I get a subscriber, briefly talk about vampires, briefly talk about Fair Folk. Psychic Haunted locations

Page 37
Tangent on naval warfare. Military analysis of Meckelorn, Stahlheim, Mondert, Fumaya, and Swynfaredia. I gush over my expanding World Anvil profile, Several Swynfaredian Houses, Two more Border Baronies, I finalize the Scarterran Calendar

Page 38
I set the current year and create a timeline of major West Colassian events, discuss World Ember contest, post some new Heraldry. Mention the lost Fakhari ethnicity of humans, I ponder having villains create reagents by murdering people.

Page 39
More heraldry and artwork, More World Ember updates Codenya kalazotz in detail, tangent on guano, assorted attempts at art, Dwarf influenced kalazotz.

Page 40
Assorted Scaraquan articles (tides, deities, metaphysics of how the land and sea interact), follow-up on kalazotz stuff, assorted World Anvil musings.

Page 41
More Scaraquan articles, bat people related articles, and World Anvil musings.

Page 42
Comparing Scaraquan to the Ancient Roman era, Lost Tribe of Grey Forest Kalazotz, were-ravens, Elemental Fever, the Swynfaredian royal court, Swynfaredian swear words

Page 43
Chwinga tangent, musing on the Scarterran Underdark, I really went nuts posting new articles on World Anvil over these past few days, I develop the Nation of Kantoc with a bunch of articles, I detail a bunch of heretic groups, I create a circus and a kalazotz acrobat troop, and profile domesticated dogs and bats, I split the Scaraquan ocean into smaller seas, I create a famous hippocampus, I try to write a tragic love story,

Page 44
Aquatic Cyclopes, The Boiling Sea, More icons, Crystal Fields Border Barony, I start Nilen's family tree program function, Scaraquans approximating alcoholic beverages, classifying Scaraquan habitable zones, Scaraquan Cult of the Storm, assorted musing on Scaraquan religious groups. Cult of the Shark, Karakhai subspecies/cultures. Cancer Province of Oshamni Empire, Potential friendly Skaven race.

Page 45
I make a picture of Nilen the cobbler, Subspecies of Frog Goblins, musing on other goblin subspecies, musing on the Petalars from Thundercats (2011), I run a solo RPG adventure for my friend. Mini Index of Major Swynfaredian Houses, I muse on revising tengku based on finding related material on kenku and tengu in other mythology

Page 46
More tengku/kenku comparisons, I run another solo RPG session, Haloclines are the new word of the day, I informally muse on the Swynfaredian black market for magical goods, I informally muse on Swynfaredians legalizing or banning goblin slavery, I attempt a prototype for a Scarterra glossary, I post a video about how real historical medieval European people handled waste management, formal artical on slavery in Swynfaredia, generic article covering peasants, serfs, and slaves in Scarterra as a whole, thurakel (the dragon equivalent of peasants), musing on human ethnicities in East Colassia

Page 47
Musing on fantasy setting green humans, Article on the Great Colassian Tundra, Article on taiga elves (sub ethncity of wood elves), I run another solo RPG session and then take a mulligan, musing on taverns and inns in Scarterra, Scarterran Hospitals, musing on Scarterran martial arts

Page 48
More martial arts discussion, musing on Scarterran monks, musing on Fumayan noble family trees, Scolenex proposes an alternate subsetting of Scarterra, musing on Scrterran/Scaraquan oracles, musing on Scarterran holy scriptures, discussion on magic and dragons' impact on medieval war tactics, musing on how big and strong to make dragons, musing on the mechanics of dragon's breath, musing on Scarterran wedding practices, musing on Scaraquan monsters,

Page 49
Scarterran wedding punchings, Lucky marriage coins, I post some RPG videos from Youtube that have been rattling around my head, Deep dive into Merfolk ethnicity and physical traits, kobold birthing treks in detail, midday pies, I finally run another solo RPG session, I talk about how dragons blur the line between Scarterra and Scaraqua. Speculation about dinosaurs and giant egg laying domesticated animals.

Page 50
I write a bunch of articles for a World Anvil Summer Camp contest including bright squid ink, bone crackers, prophecy of Vralic's destruction, Temple of the Dragon Waters, Desert of Tears, trench fever, volcanic wood elves, alchemical poison detection, moonrise tidal rites, the tengku's lost language, unrelated post 9 finger rude gesture, I muse on my need to read more

Page 51
More talk of fantasy fiction. More Summer Camp entries including: Order of the Lantern, red grass, the bow of Zimoz, Screaming Fields, East Colassian mountain goblins, Vladimir's kingdom (with a tangent on Vladimir's heraldry), Swynfaredian Otectum parties, The Platinum Consortium, Free Port of Amstrea, haber crystals, Ketaresh mining complex, the storm thief pirate, Ralthor the rebellious favored soul, the Great Sanctuary of Mercy, karakhai grand khans,

Page 52
My friend sets up his own fantasy world Therrmodia, I round out the Summer Camp Contest with Poop Porters, the Swynfaredian Queen's Guard, the Kraken's Siren, and the Apseldian revolution, I create a bunch of Scarterran Idioms, tangent on another World Anvil writer's tank humanologist, pondering dragon taboos as relate to their cuss words, Scarterra's two oceans, What the Colassian Confederacy Nations think of each other,

Page 53
Musing on hybrid elemental ethnicities, musing on East Colassian heraldry, follow up on Colassian Confederacy stereotypes, discussion on monsters of African folklore particularly the grootslang, guidelines for creating dwarf clans, What the Meckelorn dwarf clans think of each other

Page 54

More on the dwarf clans and guilds. More musing on the Fair Folk. Haber Crystals, basics of the Fair Folk Courts, Dwarf Maiden Guard, musing on real world monster tales as an inspiration for Fair Folk kiths.

Page 55
Rough draft of Deep Wardens Legion, musing on Teddy Bears, potion musings, I debut a map of West Colassia, articles I start Worldember 2021 with many articles: basics of Scarterran alchemy, Terrawan Tenders, Eclipse-Touched, Near and Far Wedding Tokens, Something Blue at weddings, Nami Civil War, Oracles, Stewards of the Gift, Stewards of the Dominion, Vampiris, Legend of the Silver Dragons, Walchese Tenders, Meckelorn Council of Elders, Stahlheim Council of Elders, First draft of ethnic variation in Merfolk, Geu-puppies, Red Shaft Clan, profile of a kalazotz crimelord

Page 56
kalazotz memorial stellae, alchemical food preparation, dwarf salt masters, pigs in Scarterra, Samhain Day of the Dead tween holiday, Beltaine fertility ritual tween holiday, brodsopp foodstuff, Scaraquan recreational substances, I start adding quotes to articles, musing on creating a rat-like humanoid race, magical food evolution, assorted Worldember musings, Imbolc spring tween holiday, Midsummer's Night revelatory tween holiday, How Maylar's Testers feel about the other groups, Scarterran New Years

Page 58
Satyrs and a lot of details about different satyr groups tangent on coal and dragon poop, I try to sketch a symbol for Greymoria.

Page 59
Musing on Ogres, Cannibal Sickness, Vulture Sickness, musing on cats and dogs and the craft of writing, Druss elves, musing on the craft of writing and my kitchen sink approach to fantasy, sea giants

Page 60
I discuss different intreptations of krankens, I come up with an entirely new creature called Ocumati. I cover how common Scarterrans feed themselves in great detail, I cover how Codenya grows its food, I revisit the Drunken Bat Inn and Brewery, I cover psychological differences between short lived and long lived races, Penarchian Dwarves, Gnomes Eye View of West Colassian History

Page 61
Mera combs, revisiting Drunken Bat Inn, informal discussion on warlocks and types of warlocks, tangent on Dark Sun D&D setting, Legendary Divine Talismans (with two examples), musing on a potential online video conference RPG campaign, musing on literary villain types.

Page 62
Scarterran Wendigo, Scarterran Rusalka, Ogres vs. Vampires, Smearing Scroll Cases, informal musing on the writing process and new cannibal mutants, Skinchanger witches, Skopen, Smearing Scroll Cases, RPG musings, Jormangers, Morlocks, I write a (dark) short story.

Page 63
short story critiques, RPG session planning, Barony of Bees, discussion on historical "mad honey", Wooly Slopes Barony, Ollums, Artificial lighting in Scarterra, informal musing on Mimics, informal discussion on 5th editon D&D Scarterra adaptations

Page 64
RPG session planning and comparing and contrasting D&D10 with D&D, Customizeable Zombies and Skeletons, I go to a small Renaissance Fair, Bugbears, Mimics, informal musing on kappa, Lifesight (metaphyiscal concept), Different motivations of knights, Formalize article on kappas, I try running an RPG via web camera and it works.

Page 65
I am inspired by a video on real world mountain culture, Borderlander National Industry, Dragon Springs Border Barony, general Borderland musing, I talk about my Summer Camp entries, especially Scaraquan items, Death Goats

Page 66
Lots of heraldry and some discussion of heraldry, brief tangent on the works of Robert E. Howard's fiction. dragon spiders, I show off Scarterra's first professional art, I talk about future visual art, I talk about Appearance rules apply to tengku, I briefly update what my RPG campaign is doing,

Page 67
I talk about Worldember 2022, salamanders, I become obsessed with reindeer, little "goats", regular goats, Scarterran pirates, I debut my first Scarterra novellete Unstable Ground, I do some general world building musing, I talk about Hasbro is being a jerk with their new "open" gaming agreement.

Page 68
I talk about what to name my hyena people, I talk about potential improvements of my wiki and goals for the next year, I briefly dip my toe in the water of AI art, Scarterran Theatre,

Page 69
I vow to add some more pizzazz to my Scarterra wiki. I try out an AI art program called Nightcafe with mixed results, Jelly Spear Plays, Zotz art comes along, I revisit Greymoria's Children, I debut Deep Goblins

Page 70
I talk about art additions to my wiki articles, Three Guys Walk into a Bar Scarterran Edition, RPG campaign update, I debut my professionally commissioned camazotz and kalazotz art, I edit and expand on some older zotz articles, I start the ball rolling on more commissioned art (satyrs this time), RPG session planning toppling a coup in the Borderlands, I cover the six northern satyr ethnicities, I show some portraits a player of mine made via HeroForge

Page 71
My friend makes more Hero Forge portraits, I debut a piece of professional commissioned art, I reveal many of my own Hero Forge portraits, Kormatin's RPG campaign enters a camazotz phase.

Page 72
I debut some watery satyr art, I publish a new short story, Scarterra's wiki crosses the million word threshold, Kormatin's RPG campaign ends the camazotz phase. I muse on chimeras, I debut a picture of some satyr kids, I enter several articles in World Anvil Summer Camp 2023, I debut a bit of tengku art, I muse on hypothetical undead plants, Mace of the Wyrmslayer

Page 73
I show off some commissioned art, some AI art, and some mixed attempts at making heraldry. Spooktober 2023 entries, Assorted Worldember prep, D-Names, Poison detection jewelry, more art, Crown Time Drain. Tapukeah and duchy building

Page 74
I deflate Scarterra's economy, I revisit Bonecrackers with AI Art, I create trees with beautiful amethyst leaves, I talk about rabbits, I wrap up Worldember 2023, I round out the dragon imagery of the four founding Swynfaredian houses, I debut commissioned art of a tengku vulture, I showcase my improvements in getting Midjourney to create pictures I can actually use. I polish some articles to to compete against other top tier world builders.

Page 75
Ducks of Scarterra, I expanded Scarterra's list of slang/idioms. I give an update on the artwork for the Nine in the pipeline, I muse about the possibility of publishing Scarterra stuff, Sheep and Wool in Scarterra, I enter "Adventure April 2024", I talk about my new RPG campaign, I prep for Summer Camp 2024, I ponder giving my site a visual makeover, I establish scarterra.com as a thing, Summer Camp 2024 begins


Introduction to local setting and deities. (below)

The D&D forum I was using doesn't like reading my giant blocks of text so I thought I'd turn to my L-O friends for advice.

I have working on a project off and on for years now. Originally the setting was intended to be a setting for playing 3.5 D&D, maybe 2nd edition. Then I eventually opted to try to make own game system. A hybrid of D&D and White Wolf's d10 system I call D&D10.

After a year of tinkering with my system I actually started running a game. Basically I'm testing the mechanics. The player characters are wandering the frontier of a small nation, responding to villages in distress. Very Monster of the Week, but it's a good way to test my combat system. X needs to be stronger, Y needs to be nerfed, that kind of thing.

The goal is to make a medium magic setting. Magic is fairly common and well known but it's not as crazy powerful as it is in traditional D&D game. No massive storms of fire, no bringing back the dead,

But I want to branch into an actual long term story fairly soon and it's based on what a player said.

One of my stories involved two villages that were paying yearly tribute to a local tribe of orcs in order to be left alone. An agent provocateur stole the tribute and tried to frame the villagers as having stolen the other village's tribute in order to watch the bloodbath. The PCs thwarted the villain and got the tribute back. One of the players said "Isn't this village part of a nation, the army should protect them from orcs."

So I can have the PCs wander the wilderness fighting Monsters of the Week for a while but eventually I want them them to go to the capital and try to shore up the struggling nation of Fumaya.

I have literally over a 100 pages of material on the creation of the world, the gods, the priesthoods, and metaphysics, but I have very little concrete information on the actual people of the world.

Spoiler: Cliff notes versions of my gods and goddesses

The nine deities are collectively called "the Nine." Each of the Nine embodies one of the nine alignments from D&D 2nd and 3rd ed. They briefly united to overthrow their tyrannical progenitor god, Turoch, who was trying to eat them and the whole universe. The progenitor god died and his spiritual corpse because a nightmare realm called the Void that spawns Lovecraftian monsters that assail the world from the north and south pole. They don't have agendas like the four Chaos gods of WHF, they just want to eradicate all living things and consume all souls. Collectively they are scary enough that the Good and Evil gods will put aside their differences to contain them.

Hallisan is Lawful Good. He is male. He is the god of metal working and mining, just war, chivalry, honor, the Father of Dwarfs, the patron of hard work, defender of the weak. His official Dominion over nature is the minerals of the earth. His Gift to mortals is metalworking. His priests and priestesses are nicknamed Guardians or Valor, or simply the Guardians.

Mera is Neutral Good. She is female. She is the god of the hearth, the sea, drinking water, family, peace, the Mother of Gnomes, the patron of medicine, and a lover of mercy. Her official Dominion over nature is water. Her Gift to mortals is control over fire. Her priests and priestesses are nicknamed Tenders of the Sacred Hearth, or simply the Tenders.

Zarthus is Chaotic Good. He is male. He is the god of the moon, revenge, art, music, celebration, finding hidden things, freedom, the adopted father of bastards and half-breeds, and self reliance. His official Dominion over nature is the moon. His Gift to mortals is music. His priests and priestesses are nicknamed the Lanterns.

Khemra is Lawful Neutral. She is female. She is the goddess of history, law, writing, knowledge, tradition, the sun, she is the writer of the Compact, the agreement that got the Nine to work together in the first place. Her official Dominion over nature is the sun. Her Gift to mortals is writing. Her priests and priestesses are nicknamed the Keepers of the Way, or just the Keepers.

Korus is True Neutral. He is male. He is god of ecosystem, animals, plants, agriculture, prophecy, mediation. His official domino over nature is the balance of plants and animals. His Gift to mortals is agriculture. His priests and priestesses are called Stewards. The Stewards are split between two factions that rarely work together. The Stewards of the Dominion are nature loving druids and the Stewards of the Gift are civilization loving friends of the farmer.

Nami is Chaotic Neutral. She is female. She is the goddess of weather, madness, prophecy, alcohol, arson, inspiration, and freedom. Her official dominion is over nature is the weather. Her Gift to mortals is free will. She was the first deity that gave a Gift to mortals. After she gave free will to mortals and they could choose who to worship, the other deities gave their own Gifts as a form of bribery to win worshipers. Her priests and priestesses are nicknamed Rovers on the Wind, or just Rovers. Even the rare cleric that doesn't like traveling is still called a Rover.

Phidas is Lawful Evil. He is male. He is the god of commerce, the protector against the Void, the father of goblins, master of contracts, and the one who lets food grow underground without the sun. His dominion over nature is the mystic Barrier that keeps the Void at bay. His Gift to mortals is the concept of currency. His priests and priestess are nicknamed the Masks of Phidas or simply Masks because their vestments always involve masks in honor of the god himself who hides his ruined face with a silver mask.

Greymoria is Neutral Evil. She is female. She is the goddess of arcane magic, the mother of monsters, the mistress of poisons, the patroness of the undead. She is the most feared deity because she curses or sends monsters at mortals who don't love her enough. This causes her to be loved less, prompting more retaliation. Her Dominion over nature is the regulation of wild magic. Her Gift to mortals is wizardry. Her priests and priestesses are nicknamed the Children of the Dark Mother, or simply the Children.

Maylar is Chaotic Evil. He is male. He is the god of Darwinism, hunting, animal husbandry, disease, decay, low warfare, the Father of Orcs (though Nami helped). His Dominion over nature is disease and decay. His Gift to mortals is hunting and animal husbandry (he wanted mortals to associate killing with survival). His priests and priestesses are nicknamed the Testers of Strength or simply the Testers.

Most mortals in my world are polytheistic and worship all nine of the Nine, though they usually have a favorite deity.

My basic concept is that Fumaya is possibly the unluckiest human nation in my world. They are a small nation of hardy simple folk that happen to be the buffer zone between far stronger nations.

To the west is Meckelorn, a traditional Dwarf nation (I have two non-traditional Dwarf nations but this one is pretty recognizable, axes, hammers, beer, inexplicable Scottish accents, dislike of arcane magic, etc).

To the was they border the Wood Elf nation. I tried not to steal too much from WHF but my elves are split into three fairly similar elf nations. They are not as extreme as the Wood Elves of WHF. They like their privacy, but they don't view every single outsider entering their territory as an act of war. They exchange ambassadors with nearby nations and they have have a right of passage loosely based on the Amish Rumspringa. When an elf becomes and adult, he or she typically takes a short rumpspringa (20-40 years) where they leave their home forests and explore the outside world, then they come back home and probably never leave the forests again. Unless they were outcasts or outsiders in their own land, then the elves never come from their rumspringas.

To south is the powerful human nation of Swynfaredia. Swynfaredia is noteworthy in that all their nobility have herditary magical abilities which they use to cement their power. They have gone through periods of strife and civil war and periods of expansion. Right now the queen (or king, I haven't decided yet) is eying Fumaya as a potential conquest. Her vassals are getting uppity and an external foe would redirect their energy to something productive. Swynfaredia hasn't done anything overtly hostile yet but their soldiers have been making lots of minor violations of territory near the border just to be petty and to test Fumaya's reaction.

To the north is wilderness. Orc and human barbarian tribes dwell plus assorted monsters. The raiders to the north have been largely given a free rein because most of the army is making preparations for a Swynfaredian invasion of the south.

The king, King Henryk who is in early twenties, inherited the throne very recently from his father the previous king. The previous king was wasteful and now Fumaya's coffers are empty. King Henryk is a good man but he is not especially cunning or ruthless. He's not stupid and realizes that both his northern and southern borders are under threat, but he is very reluctant to raise taxes believing the people are already shouldering the biggest burden they can handle. He is reluctant to take a loan because the only institution capable of loaning large sums of money to a king is the Church of Phidas which has a well-deserved reputation for insinuating advisors into the courts of their debtors and turning kings into toothless paper tigers run in proxy by their debt holders.

To free up funds, King Henryk cut back on royal frivolities. Troubadours, tournaments, hunting trips, and the like. He also laid off his royal staff. Problem is many of these laid off staffers are bitter about losing their job and many of them intimately know the inner workings of the court. Which courtiers are vulnerable to bribes and blackmail, which guards are prone to falling asleep on the job, all sorts of stuff.

I figure most of these malcontents ended up selling what they know to the fantasy medieval equivalent of the Mafia (though I probably need to come up with a better name than Fantasy Mafia). I am leaning towards to giving the Mafia don supernatural powers, thinking of making him/her a doppleganger.

This is where I'm not kind of stuck. I need to create some interesting characters, and I need to come up with some interesting dirt for these malcontents to have. What schemes would the mafia use to fleece Fumaya?

King Henryk has a very small parcel of land that he can tax and raise soldiers from. Mostly he has to rely on scuttage and levies from his vassals. I also want to channel the spirit of Game of Thrones seasons 1-6 to create some interesting noble characters.


The goal is to create a sandbox where the players characters can bust heads, play politics, or play detective. I think my playing group will lean towards political solutions. One of the two active players created a very socially oriented character that holds a high ranking in the Priesthood of Khemra. Another player is a jack of all trades elf on Rumspringa of noble birth. Between the two of them, they can probably get an audience with almost any noble or priest they want.

 

I thought about it, but I'm not sure if D&D style Lizardfolk would fit into my world. Which is called Scarterra for now, but at some point I should pick a name tha isn't supsiciously close to something DC has copywrighted.

Anyway, a big rule in my world is that if something exists, it needs to have a purpose in it.

Going back to the kung fu. A big thing in D&D 3.0 and 3.5 is the Monk class. Very badass fighters in unarmed combat. They are required to be Lawful. A friend ran a D&D game and kept monks as the same but required them to be Chaotic. The way we figured, to have a class of people who devote that much time and effort to learning how to fight without weapons, a group of people needs three things 1) a lot of time on their hands 2) a lot of dangerous external threats and 3) no access to conventional weapons. Thus, in his world, monks learn to fight that way because their people were enslaved and not allowed weapons. They learned to fight without weapons to free themselves.

My world doesn't have a society that needs to defend themselves but is barred from using weapons. Thus I don't have monks.

Gnomes and halflings fill basically the same role in most settings. I decided I don't need both. So I took out halflings and kept gnomes (I like gnomes).

I don't see what purpose Lizardfolk would serve that other races don't already do. I did put a lot of backstory and detail in Kobolds which are the next best thing. Also, I don't want my grand life as the most beloved moderator on Lustria-Online to overshadow every other thing I do.

I might make Lizardfolk an extinct race.

My world has a lot of extinct races. Dragons used to rule the world (the gods owed them a favor for helping overthrow their progentior) until the First Unmaking happened killed 95% of all mortals (tens of thousands of elementals running amok). Then the gods created Elves to rule the world until the Second Unmaking killed 95% of all mortals again (tens of thousands of soul hungry demons).

It might be fun to theme a dungeon out of a lost jungle temple created by a forgotten race.


But I'm not currently building a dungeon, I'm trying to populate a small beleagered nation with interesting characters and semi-realistic noble houses. I figure most kingdoms would be originally founded by an extremely successful adventuring party. One member becomes the first king or queen and the other party members become the first counts or dukes.

If a new noble house is created, it is probably the result of a badass adventurer or group of adventurers performing a great service for the royal family (or seizing so much naked power that they are given a noble title to placte them and forestall a coup).

What I'm not sure of is what these noble houses would look like many generations after their blood soaked creation.

 

I kind of forgotten about that thread because few people responded to it. Also when I wrote that thread my goal was to make a setting for 3.5. Now I opted to make my own RPG system and create something a little less epic scaled than 3.5

Most of the fluff there holds, but I completely threw out the map. Then I made a new map and threw out that map. The third map burned down, fell over and then sank into the swamp.

If you private message me your email address, I can send you the CURRENT version of my fluff and game system if you truly want to read 200 pages of it. I did put in navigation panes for ease of reading.

I'm not a particualrly deft hand at map drawing, but I do have some maps. I don't have reliable access to a scanner but I could bug a friend or go to the copy store and spend a $1 so I can post my rough draft maps.

I'm very open to this because you are pretty damn good at making maps, I drew a map and then scrapped it and started over four or five times, so I'm not emotionally attached to my map. but hold off until I can figure out how to show you my rough drafts.

Another thing, I cannot make up my mind on is scale. At the moment the world has about half the surface area of Earth but I've toyed with make it bigger or smaller.

The world is not flat and it's not a globe. It's a cylinder. The north and south poles are literally gateways to the Void. The Nine erected a mystic wall called the Barrier to keep the Void from devouring all life but it's not impermeable. The Void passively leeches heat. That's why it's colder near the poles and warmer near the equator. It's just science!

The barrier gets weaker on the anniversary of the Nine's Rebellion against Turoch (roughly coinciding with the Winter Solstice) and the Nine shore it up the rest of the peak, peaking around the Summer Solstice so that is why we have the season. More science.

I'm a big fan of Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond. A non-fiction book about how technological and agricultural innovations spread. Based on Professor Diamond's theories I opted to make the world oriented east to west rather than north to south.

All water used to be freshwater but when Turoch the Progenitor was slain, his blood turned to salt as it spilled over the world. Mera, the protector goddess and the goddess of water made sure to shield large bodies of freshwater to nourish the world that came after.

In the First Age, Scarterras was a giant mega continent like Pangea though it was a lot more uniform than Pangea. The center was a slightly higher elevation than the exterior. A giant freshwater lake was elevated in the center and many rivers flowed down in every direction to the salt water sea. A dragon queen tried to use sorcery to seize control of the central lake so she could control everyone's access to fresh water, but her spell botched and she instead woken up the planet's elemental core.

It's basic science that all life and all matter is made up of fire, earth, water, and air and the purest source of elemental energy is in the core of the planet. This woke up tens of thousands of elementals that ran amok. Earth and water elementals battling each other en masse split the Pangaea-like continent into smaller land masses as their elements fought for dominance.

The biggest land mass was in the north, creatively named Colassia. During the Second Unmaking, a party of epic wizards drew on unprecedented magic to destroy a Demon Lord and this split Colassia into two continents. East Colassia and West Colassia which are separated by a very narrow strait of water, generally called The Demon Strait.

Because I cannot focus on the entire world at once, most of the fluff I developed is for East Collasia.

Short version.

Mondert: Mondert has a joint government two kings and two councils of elders ruling them, one human, one dwarf. They are fairly geographically isolated. Dwarves do most of the mining and metal work, but both human and dwarf alike live primarily by fishing and tropical agriculture. They assimilated with human culture so much they are barely recognizable as dwarfs (though they kept the beards).

-Most Mondarian Dwarfs have never seen an orc. Orcs are basically a distant legend.
-Mondarians distrust elves because the nearest elves happen to be the Dark Elves who are unabashed slavers.
-They get along amazingly well with humans. They are actually pretty gregarious with any other group who approaches them politely.

Meckelorn: Meckelorn has a near absolute monarch that's power is partially checked by clan elders.

-Meckelorn Dwarves loathe Orcs with a passion and would like to see them wiped out. Orcs nearly destroyed Meckelorn centuries ago.
-Meckelorn doesn't have warm relations with the Wood Elves, but both sides believe that good fences make good neighbors, so they rarely fight. Wood Elves are welcome to visit on Rumspringas though most Wood Elves find underground realms uninviting and rarely stay long.
-Mecklorners will trade with Humans but they do so reluctantly. Humans view them as abrasive and rude in general. A few hardliners have not forgotten that small numbers of humans aided the orcs that attacked their homeland and would prefer not to deal with humans at all.

Stahlheim: Stahlheim has a hereditary king that regularly has to make concessions to influential clan leaders and wealthy guild masters.

-Stahlheim Dwarves view Orcs as enemies, though they view them as a individual threat, not a existential threat to their way of life.
-Most of Stahlheim's contact with elves is with the Elven Empire. Imperial Elves are viewed as stodgy and hardnosed which is something Dwarves can relate to. Relations are not warm, but they have a good working relationship. Stahlheimers generally dislike the sea and the Elven Empire has the largest merchant fleet in the world, so elves are good trading partners.
-Most Dwarves would rather spend their times working in a forge or a mine. Thanks to being able to trade metal goods to humans for large quantities of food stuffs, most Dwarfs get their wish. Thus they like trading with humans

Spoiler: This is the long version

Detailed History and Culture
Origin from the Great Stone: Nearly all Dwarves agree they were formed out of stone and given life by Hallisan 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 staunchly defend the mountains and the Underdark. A lot of non-Dwarves state that if Hallisan saw the Second Unmaking coming, he should 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 of worshipers for themselves by this point in history 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.

Second Age History: A few elves took offense at this new race of demi-elves emerging, but elves were never especially fond of mountains but by that point, the Elven kingdoms would covetously hold onto any land they could. The elves had the numbers to utterly crush the upstart dwarves, but when the dwarves emerged the elves were already in decline. Hallisan was not the most commonly worshipped of the Nine by the Second Age elves, but he had some followers who were able to run interference on behalf of the dwarfs. Relationships between the newly emerged dwarves and the nearest elven nations were rough but they managed to at least avoid full scale war. The dwarves claimed much of the land around the Great Stone and christened their new nation Mecklorn.

Surviving the Second Unmaking: The dwarves were expecting a full scale attack by the elves and had been building up fortifications and stockpiling food and weapons. While the elves never invaded, the dwarves war preparations helped them against the Void Demons. Nevertheless, the Void Demons brought low many older stronger nations.

Meckelorn survived largely because Hallisan intervened. All the Nine intervened where and when they could to help mortals that found their favor but they couldn’t save everyone. Hallisan bent nearly all his effort towards helping the dwarven people. Many dwarf favored souls were born at this time and many spirit minions of Hallisan arrived to reinforce the dwarves’ defenses.

Hallisan worship was far more common among Second Age elves than among Third Age elves. Some elven historians believe that the precipitous drop in Hallisan worship among modern elves is because Hallisan left his non-dwarven worshipers out to dry. This is not something they usually have the guts to say around Guardians.

Dwarf historians estimate over half of the dwarf population died during the Second Unmaking. While the loss was horrific, the dwarfs emerged from the Second Unmaking with fewer losses than nearly every other mortal race. Not only this, but their royal line was unbroken and most of the clan leadership was intact so the Dwarfs did not have to reinvent their governments the way the surviving elves did.

Early Third Age History: Meckelorn rebuilt its structures and population as the newly arrived humans debuted. Relationships between Meckelorn and the emerging human nations were peaceful, but not very warm. Relations with the Wood Elves of Loren Codenya were even frostier but at the very least the two groups understood the others desire for privacy and isolation.

As Meckelorn grew to an even larger population than they had before the Unmaking, they began trading with humans even establishing a small colony in the southern mountains of West Colassia to help facilitate this. This colony was known as Stahlheim.

The Rule of Krnnic the Brash: Meckelorn’s kings were generally wise and fair until a greedy dwarf known as Kronnic the Brash, ascended to the throne. Kronnic was disliked both within and without his own nation. He raised taxes greatly and wasted money on selfish pursuits. He threatened war with neighboring nations over the slightest provocations.

Many of his subjects wanted to crown his much more level-headed younger brother, Monderious. Mondarious refused stating that to break the rules of succession would irreparably harm the Dwarf people for centuries to come. Despite his public refusal, Monderious faced at least one nearly successful assassination attempt believed to be the work of his jealous brother.

Monderious chose self-exile. He left with a small contingent of core supporters. The exiles sailed Scarterras for over ten years before settling on a chain of volcanic islands and befriending the local tribes of humans there eventually formalizing their friendship into the joint human-dwarven nation of Mondert. Monderious’ people then essentially removed themselves from dwarven history. It wasn’t until centuries later that anyone in Meckelorn was even aware that Mondarious’ exiles had survived, much less formed a new nation.

Meckelorn declined under the leadership of Kronnic. His son was if anything worse eventually being murdered with poison in his ale. Officially he was killed by a goblin assassin but many speculate that one of his own subjects likely did the deed. Kronnic’s grandson Arrarin took the throne but not come of age yet. The young monarch was ill prepared to face the challenges to come. He was not ready for Mordock.

Mordock the Scourge of Dwarves: Mordock was both a half-orc warrior and a sorcerer who managed to use flattery, bribery, intimidation and naked force to unite most of the orc and human barbarian tribes of West Colassia under his banner. In addition to these warriors, Mordock is said to have won the loyalty of three dragons and even rode a dragon into battle. Mordock’s army also included goblins and giants. His coalition conquered the tiny northern nations of humanity and then turned his sights on Meckelorn.

Mordock is said to have had Greymoria’s blessing. Whether or not he truly had her blessing, Greymoria had nursed a grudge against the dwarven people since their inception for shunning her and for shunning arcane magic. Greymoria created Derro to plague the Dwarves and chose the moment of Mordock’s attack to unleash them. Whether or not Mordock actually conspired with the Derro directly, the Derro did choose (or were ordered) to strike at Meckelorn en masse from below while Mordock’s army attacked them from outside.

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 bloodlines.

One royal contender, wanted to liberate Meckelorn as soon as possible and regrouped militant survivors in minor fortresses that were once on the frontier of Meckelorn. They began a guerilla war campaign to reclaim the Great Stone and the surrounding areas.

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.

Liberation of the Great Stone into Today: Meckelorn’s declined slowly 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 sizable portion of their original kingdom back, Meckelorn’s stopped shrinking at managed to stabilize despite their continuing losses.

Much of Mecklorn’s continuing war losses were in failed attempts to liberate the Great Stone. At one point while Meckelorn’s army 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. The two dwarven nation faced the prospect of war over their holiest site.

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 their soldiers hundreds of miles to the objective. Due to the intervention of nearly every dwarf priest representing most of the Nine, the dwarves agreed not to profane the Great Stone with dwarf’s shedding Dwarf blood.

The Great Stone and the temple around it was declared its own nation, at least on paper. Neither Stahlheim or Meckelorn technically have jurisdiction over the Great Stone. Meckelorn agreed to give Stahlheim pilgrims (and the rare Monderian pilgrims) full access to the Temple of the Great Stone. Both nations would contribute soldiers to guard it.

The agreement is in place, but Stahlheimers and Mecklorners do not get along particularly well. 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. In their view, the Stahlheimers won the Meckelorners’ war for them, then the ingrates tried to muscle them out.

Many humans quietly joke that Stahlhemiers and Meckelorners hate each other because they are so alike. Culturally separated by thousands of miles and thousands of years, Mondarian dwarves are very different from their cousins in Western Colassia. Paradoxically though, they tend to get along well with their distant cousins. It is so rare for a Mondarian to visit the dwarf homelands or a mainlander dwarf to sail to Mondert that such meetings are cause for a celebration not suspicion.

Organization of the Three Dwarven Nations: It is widely held that Meckelorn is where traditional dwarves hail from, Stahlheim has picked up a small number of human practices and Mondert has picked up a lot of human practices.

Meckelorn is very isolationist and is generally unwelcome to non-dwarf visitors, even if they bear valuable goods for trade. Stahlheim doesn’t let in many non-dwarf permanent residents but they rely on trade. They rely on nearby human nations to provide most of their food in exchange for metal goods. Mondert is a joint human-dwarven nation with humans and dwarves integrated together at every level of society.

Mecelorners are especially fond of fighting warhammer and battle axes. Some Stahlheimers favor warhammers and axes but many utilize swords and pole arms when they feel they are more advantageous. Monderian dwarves find warhammer and battle axes inconvenient for their canoes. In fact the biggest thing separating Monderian dwarves from their cousins is their love of the sea.

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. Mondert’s king is expected to lead his people in times of war, but he is mostly a ceremonial figure in times of peace. The Monderian clan elders run most of the day-to-day operations of the small nation. Also the Mondarians have a second human king, as human council of elders that is considered parallel and equal to the dwarf king and dwarf council.

Religion: Most dwarves view Hallisan as their preeminent deity, very few dwarves refuse to worship Hallisan entirely. 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.

Dwarf Outsiders: Dwarves who do not fit in well with their own people for whatever reason find that they can find work as soldiers, adventurers stonemasons, smiths, engineers, or mining supervisors almost anywhere, so oddball Dwarves show up working for humans or other races around the world.

Not every dwarf you see outside their homelands is an outsider or an outlaw. Many choose to work a few decades in non-dwarven lands to make their fortunes, then they return to their homelands with all the wealth they saved. This is a common practice for single men to gain wealth to attract a good match at home.

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, providing both food and defense. To be fair though, a lot of dwarves who choose these professions find their own society somewhat stifling and choose to live primarily in the wilderness for the relative freedom it provides.

The continents of Penarchia and East Colassia both have extensive mineral rich mountain ranges with no dwarf settlements. A lot of dwarfs think there should be dwarves in every mountain range on Scarterras but relatively few dwarves are volunteering to be part of a mass emigration movement. They still have not recovered their population loss since the time of Mordock.

I have literally given no thought to Elven heraldry until now. I don't think seasons would be a good fit. Note, the three elf groups do not like each other, but they are so far apart geographically that they couldn't really make war on each other even if they wanted to.

Elven kingdoms used to cover the entire world. When the Second Unmaking happened, Void Demons tried to consume all mortal souls and 90-99% of the elf population was slain. The three modern Elf nations diverged from each other based on their strategy for surviving the Second Unmaking.

The Grey Elves, who now call themselves the Elven Empire, used to be a tiny nation with no real clout but their tiny was an island on the equator so they were last in line to be attacked by demons. They faced the fewest demons and had the most time to prepare. They survived with their nation and government pretty much intact.

They are first and foremost a naval power. Presumably their heradry would be based around powerful sea creatures.


The Wood Elves survived the Second Unmaking by making alliances with magical forest creatures and the Fair Folk (which admittedly are not near as developed as I wish at this point). They retained these alliances into the Third Age. Their new nation is called Loren until I come up with something more original. EDIT: Now Codenya.

Presumably their heraldry would involve unicorns, satyrs and other fae creatures of the forest.


The Dark Elves survived the Second Unmaking by promising their lives and souls to the goddess Greymoria. Their new nation of Kahdisteria is the only place where Greymoria worship is mainstream.

Presumably their heradly would involve whatever Greymoria's sacred animals are or involve mystic sigils. I have yet to assign sacred animals.

So far I introduced an elven minstrel on Rumspringa but my Elf PC wants to hide his true identity and is pretending to be a commoner. It came off awkwardly and he didn't make a good impression on her. She thought he was overly simple.

Since Fumaya borders Loren Codenya, I can probably throw in all sorts of Wood Elves. They are probably the number one Rumspringa destination in the world.

This concept was originally borrowed/stolen from my friend's D&D campaign though I changed the name from Discermercordia (very metal name) to Swynfaredia (which I based off the Welsh word for magic). In D&D many if not most sorcerers are the descendants of human-dragon pairings. D&D is very big about color coded dragons. Discermercordia was founded by the half-dragon offspring of ten dragons. One of each type. Blue, White, Red, Green, Black, Gold, Silver, Copper, Bronze, and Brass.

My world does not have color-coded Dragons but I'm planning to use the same basic idea. The noble houses each claim descent from a half-dragon ancestor and their heraldry is based on the supposed dragon progenitor of their line.

I have not gone as far to figure out what these Dragons were like. The founding of Swynfaredia is so long ago that the stories they tell of their draconic ancestors are probably filled with innacuracies and embellishments.

Developing the finer details is a work in progress but the short version is 90% of the noble's children used to be born with hereditary sorcery. Now it's below 50%. They have a very complicated set of succession laws because nobles without sorcery cannot inherit titles or land but they still want to find the most direct heir they can.

At this point the noble families are intermarried so tightly that it's a fools errand to split up houses based on magical affinity.

I'm still working on vampires but I do have a secret vampire concept I'm fairly proud of. The nation of Uskala is ruled by a king that doesn't seem to age. He is never seen during the day and banned mirrors from his palace. Rumor is young women who are summoned to his bed chambers are never seen again.

Secretly....HE'S A DRAGON.

At the dawn of the Third Age he tried to squash the burgeoning human race and reinstate a new age of Dragons. As punishment for his hubris the Nine (or at least one of the Nine) opted to trap in him in a human body. He is trying to find a magical way to reverse his curse and become a Dragon again but he needed lots of resources to do it, so he usurped a small city state. Then he conquered the neighboring city state. He annexed enough neighbors that he now rules one of the world's most powerful Human nations...and he is ashamed that is power is based on Human politics.

He doesn't age, and doesn't want anyone to figure out what he really is, so he created a ruse that he is really a vampire pretending to be a human. It's also handy that is would-be assassins come at hm with silver and garlic which is worthless against him.

The reason why I am leaning towards one doppelganger is that the PC group is fairly small and doesn't have a magical means to expose the doppelganger. They have to rely on mundane detective work. If I have a small army of doppelgangers that would be unfairly steamrolling the players.

Fluffwise, doppelgangers are loathe to expose themselves. Some of them collaborated with Void Demons during the Second Unmaking so its not uncommon that people will kill doppelgangers just for what they are.

These are good ideas.

I am a big fan of three faction sides. I figure the mafia would not mind profiteering with the Swynfaredians but they want to toe the line. They want Fumaya to be weak but they don't want Fumaya to be destroyed. The Swynfaredians are pretty harsh on criminals and the mafia would not want to exist directly under their thumb.

These are exactly the blanks I'm trying to fill are. Who are the other nobles?

 

I'd be a hypocrite if I said I can post my RPG world but you cannot. I would be happy to read what you post and try to offer some constructive criticism.

From what I can tell. Almost every fantasy writer starts with the people and nations and then tacks gods on to it. That's why fantasy gods often don't make a lot of sense. I took the opposite route because I wanted as much of the world to make sense as I could.

 

I didn't mean that literally. Eurasia is oriented east to west. Africa and the Americas are oriented north to south.

That's important because that means if you can travel many thousands of miles and still be in the same latitude, you can plant the same crops over a massive area.

If you travel a few hundred miles and the climate is radically different, then farming cannot spread as fast.

That is one of the reasons that agriculture became more widespread in Eurasia than the Americas and it is one of the reasons why Incan conquistadors didn't sail to Spain and hold the king of Spain for ransom.

 

I'll give it a look.

I'm thinking at least three or four hundred years for most of them.

After a long time with no response I finally got some gold from the Order of the Stick forums.

Noble Houses I came up with so far

So the names are consistent, I pulled all the names from a baby naming guide for ethnic Polish names. The houses are from English to Polish translated words that I then proceed to mangle.

Since “Swynfaredia” is based on some mangled Welsh, I am going to give Swynfaredians ethnic Welsh names.

I use baby name sites so much that Google ad sense sometimes gives me maternity commercials.

I tried to keep these guidelines in mind.

Spoiler: House Polnoc

House Polnoc

House Polnoc is a lesser house, but it’s on the front lines. Generations ago, Polnoc, the Bear, was a knight of great strength and courage. This giant of a man led an army which drove back a massive orc invasion into northern Fumaya roughly a century ago. The king rewarded his valor by granting him a noble title and dominion over Fumaya’s northern most lands. House Polnoc took the Bear as their sigil. It was expected that Polnoc would tame Fumaya’s northern most and wildest province. This also represents the last time Fumaya expanded territory.

His great grandson, Obrect, is the current head of the house. He’s an old man, but he still has not outgrown his unfortunate nickname “Obrect the Cub.” He is not an imposing leader of men nor is he a courageous warrior. Lord Obrect is not the man needed to rule Fumaya’s least fertile and most exposed province.

Obrect outlived all his sons and most of his daughters. Some to disease, one to suicide some on expeditions where they never came back. Obrect’s heir is his seven year old grandson. Losing so many children broke his heart and arguably his mind. He is worthless as a protector to the commoners in his lands because he has a siege mentality. Terrified of losing his remaining family members, his troops almost never leave his castle unless they are going to get supplies.

Spoiler: House Zimoz

House Zimoz

House Zimoz is up north, but not quite as exposed as House Polnoc. House Zimoz still has to deal with less fertile land and being relatively exposed to attacks from creatures beyond the edge of the map. Their heraldry is a Silverwood Tree (aka a silvery pine tree). Their house was one of the first houses established by the first kind of Fumaya hundreds of years ago. Their house founder was a skilled ranger, and Silverwood trees are the most value and stately trees. Silverwood has many valuable uses, first and foremost Silverwood is solid to corporeal creatures, but that’s neither here nor there. Just because they took it as their house symbol doesn’t mean they have much Silverwood.

Their leaderm Lord Cezerary is a competent leader genuinely concerned for the welfare of his people. His troops are some of the busiest in Fumaya patrolling the lands and they are equipped with the best weapons and armor available. Cezerary is generous in giving rewards to adventurers who solve problems in his realm.

He is good at managing his realm’s resources but he still has to take out loans to keep this up. He owes the Masks of Phidas quite a sum. This galls him. He used to be a devotee of Hallisan, but since the Guardians pulled all their warriors and spell-casters out of his realm to defend against an imaginary invasion from Swynfaredia, maybe a new priestly ally is called for. He is pretty unhappy with the lack of support from the southern lords as well.

He doesn’t realize that his son, Andrzej, is taking his father’s prejudices much farther. He and some of his most trusted men have been disguising themselves as masked bandits and staging raids on southern lords in order to steal gold to pay the Masks off with, especially House Frymar. That’s technically treason against the realm even though it’s for a good cause.

The mafia is investigating the actions of these extremely well combat trained, very well informed bandits. If they find out who is behind it, the best Andrej can hope for is expensive blackmail.

Spoiler: House Frymar

House Frymar

House Frymar is one of the original founding houses of Fumaya. Their sigil is a red owl. I don’t have a story for this, I just think a red owl sounds cool. Apart from the king and the capital, the lands of House Frymar are arguably the most central to the country. That means if the Swynfaredians invade from the south or orcs invade from the north, House Frymar will be the last land to face an attack on their own lands.

The current head of the house, Lord Nanda Frymar, is a shrewd and greedy businessman. His house has made a lot of money acting as a middleman between the Dwarves and the Wood Elves. The Dwarves and Elves don’t like talking to each other, but they are willing to trade with humans. By acting as middleman and taking a modest percentage of each transaction, Lord Nanda is the richest lord in Fumaya.

Lord Frymar has not lifted a finger to help his fellow lords in the north nor his fellow lords in the south. He has no friends and the other lords would love to see misfortune befall him. It has, but it’s subtle. The mafia’s is muscling into Frymar’s racket of underground trade so Lord Frymar is the strongest voice for being tough on crime for purely mercenary reasons.

Lord Frymar’s parents were….fertile. Frymar had lots of younger brothers and sisters who had zero chance of inheriting any lands or getting a big dowry for a prestigious marriage. Most of these “extra” children were sent to the Church of Hallisan. A lot of Guardians bear the Frymar family name. This is not an asset for Nanda. In the echo chamber of a temple where Hallisan’s noble and selfless values are endorsed, the holy Frymars have convinced themselves that their brother/uncle is a disgrace to the family name.

Spoiler: House Wiern

House Wiern

House Wiern is one of the original founding houses of Fumaya when the first king bestowed titles on all his old adventuring buddies. House Wiern’s sigil is a griffin, because why not? House Wiern is the most influential southern house. Their farmlands are the most fertile and their current house head, Lord Garland is the father-in-law to the king and grandfather of the rightful heir. Pretty naturally, Lord Garland is very strong supporter of the king.

Lord Garland’s top priority is to defend the nation against Swynfaredian aggression. He is trying to save a nest egg of emergency funds and he’s vigorously drilling his soldiers. He feels guilty about leaving the north high and dry, but he rationalizes that this is a reasonable action given the circumstances.

He is so fixated on his daughter, the queen, that he has neglected his other children to an extent figuring that they are adults that can take of themselves. His second eldest son, Lord Tacitus believes that Fumaya cannot possibly fight off Swynfaredia and is quietly putting out feelers to make a deal with the Swynfaredians. Since he’s not a sorcerer he cannot hold a noble title in Swynfaredia but he could still get a cushy government job. A daughter of one his father’s vassals and a cousin of Lord Tacitus, Lady Pallavi, is a budding sorcerer and this is as of yet not widely known. She is not of marrying age yet, but Tacitus doesn’t believe Swynfaredia is invading tomorrow. He has maneuvered to adopt her as a fosterling.

Felicja is Garland’s youngest daughter. After her older, prettier, oh so perfect sister was betrothed to the Crown Prince years ago, Felicja went into a deep rebellious phase which she never grew out of. It got so bad that she joined the Decadents, an insidious Maylar cult made up of jaded rich people. They inflict egregious atrocities on the lower classes for the perverse thrill it gives them, then they use their wealth and privilege to avoid detection and punishment.

I might throw some lesser foibles upon Garland’s other children. Bohdan is the eldest son and heir apparent. I should probably give him sort of flaw that his father is blind to, but given how Garland views his children through a political lens, Bohdan probably faces much more scrutiny than his evil siblings.

Spoiler: House Linijka

House Linijka

This the King Henryk’s house. We can make the sigil a blazing arrow. Why not say their distant ancestor was a great archer. Sounds good.

King Henryk’s father was a selfish wasteful man who cleaned out the royal treasury built up by three generations of thrift. As mentioned before, King Henryk is a kind man who does not want to overtax is commoners, so to free up funds he cut back on royal luxuries and fired a lot of his staff. This barely made a dent in his budgetary woes. He grew up on tales of how duplicitous the masks of Phdias can be and they are the only person or group that he has access that he can borrow money from except in theory the dwarven nation of Stahlheim, and the dwarf king said no.

Some of his staff are bitter and they are selling secrets to enemies of the Crown. The doppleganger who runs the local mafia has enough insider information that he walk into any room of royal castle anytime he wants because he knows which servants to impersonate and how to imitate their personality and foibles. He doesn’t like to impersonate a lowly servant all the time, so he’s paid a lot of human servants bribes for regular information and guards bribed to look the other way. None of these servants on the take suspect that they are working for a doppleganger.

I might throw a Swynfaredian spy into the royal court, but I want to keep it at one or two spies in at most, instead of a small army of spies, so I want to be careful with that.

The young king has a three year old daughter and a one year old son who is the crown prince. He has no brothers in line for the crown, most of his siblings are bastards. Henryk’s late father was lecherous and didn’t care for Henryk’s mother much (the queen mother is still alive). If the king died without an heir, his elderly uncles would inherit the crown. This uncle in question is not the regicidal type nor are his sons, most of whom joined the Church of Khemra or Hallisan which is generally pro-status quo as a rule, but there are some third parties that wouldn’t mind a dynastic shift.

Henryk tries to be polite and fair to his bastard half-siblings, but at least a few of them are bitter about not being true-born and willing to act against him.

I’m open to suggestions if Henryk needs a character flaw in addition to his mild naiveté. Also, if anyone has any ideas for fleshing out his half-sibling, cousins, or uncles, I’d be open to hear it.

I think I have a good cast here. I feel like I should add another major vassal house or two but they don’t have to be as politically important as the three I listed above.

EDIT: Adding in houses I developed later. I may have to rename House Palbuc into something that isn't so similar to Polnoc.

Spoiler: House Nerozik (formerly Ravenclaw)

House Nerozik
(Nerozik is a mangling of the Polish word for corner)

Formerly I facetiously called this “House Ravenclaw.” I guess I can keep that going and have their sigil be a raven. While very few of House Nerozik studies wizardry now, their house founder was a powerful wizard and ravens are often associated with arcane powers. Their lands are the southwest corner of Fumaya. Being on the corner means they are exposed to more foreigners. They border Swynfaredia, the Border Barons, and Meckelorn.

Lord Narcyz is a good man who wants the best for his people and his king but he is not a strong man and lacks confidence. His advisers basically run his realm because he agrees with whatever they say. The Guardians basically control his armed forces, his seneschal handles most day-to-day decisions. Fortunately his advisers are good people. If his advisers slipped or were replaced by less moral people, Lord Narcyz probably wouldn’t notice. All of his vassals are very concerned about the Swynfaredian threat on their southern border. His vassals are split between the Hawk and Escapist camp though most Escapists are pretending to be hawks.

House Deorac is a lesser noble house, their blood line can be found in nearly every region of Fumaya but the lion’s share of them are banner men or knights serving House Nerozik. More than a few Nerozik’s have Deorac blood in them. House Deorac used to be the royal family of Talama, a small kingdom that used to border Fumaya until it was annexed by Swynfaredia nearly two hundred years ago. The Deorac family members that didn’t flee to Fumaya mostly were killed. Those who carry the Deorac blood in their veins hate and fear the Swynfaredians.

(Deorac is a mangling of the Gaelic word “exile” and Talama is likewise based on the Gaelic word for land. I’m going to give most Talaman descendants a mix of Polish and Gaelic names.

Lord Sanyi Deorac is the most charismatic and influential of House Nerozik’s vassals and the de facto leader of the “Hawk” faction. He is also a fairly powerful wizard. His branch of the family hired as many wizard tutors as they could for generations figuring the family needed a magical counter to Swynfaredia’s sorcerers. If you live in an echo chamber where you hear about Swynfaredian’s stole your family’s land, murdered your great-great grand parents, and also oppressed wizards despite their superiority to sorcerers you suddenly have a bunch of lords and ladies that really hate the Swynfaredians. They are looking forward to a war with Swynfaredia because they want revenge.

Lord Kade Spadoch is the second most influential of House Nerozik’s banner men and he is a lot more subtle. While his mother’s family was Deorac and he has a little bit of wizards training, but he is otherwise the complete opposite of his cousin Lord Sanyi. His hatred of the Swynfaredians is overpowered by fear of them. He would never dream of conspiring with the Swynfaredians and he hopes Fumaya can hold off any Swynfaredia, but he is making plans to leave and he is aiding others who wish to do the same. The escapists plan is to seek immediate shelter in the Border Barons. Then keep going west and try to find asylum in Kantoc. They are planning to take a lot of gold with them. Maybe they can parley their noble blood and money into a position of some influence in Kantoc.

But wait, there is more. Lord Narcyz’s wife, Lady Kalina, was unfaithful in her youth with multiple men and most of their children are probably not his, but Lord Narcyz is blissfully ignorant. Do you know who isn’t ignorant about this, Etch.

Etch (through intermediaries of course) has been blackmailing her. Etch also quietly dispatched most if not all the courtiers that also knew of this, including the very spy who brought this to his/her attention. Etch hasn’t asked for much, mostly for innocuous information about the court’s day to day dealings, but he he’s keeping Lady Kalina’s secret as an ace in the hole.

Spoiler: House Palbuc (formerly Hufflepuff)

House Palbuc

The lands formerly called Hufflepuff are at the toe of Fumaya’s boot, so I’m basing the ruling house there for from the Polish word for “toe” and “boot.” Because they used to be Hufflepuff I might as well make their sigil a badger.

House Palbuc claims to have the blood of a wood elf princess in their veins but that was many centuries ago. Palbuc are very human and the wood elves deny this connection citing the many contradictory love stories as evidence that it was fabricate. Never the less, the lands of House Palbuc share more border with Loren then with Swynfaredia.

House Palbuc’s lands are a bit more forested than the rest of Fumaya and the people of the land claim to have a greater kinship with the land than the rest of Fumaya. Wood elf visitors on rumpsringa claim this is extremely exaggerated. They are no better or worse than other humans. Wood elves in general are not hostile to House Palbuc but they are far short of friendly.

Lord Vern of House Palbuc is only sixteen. He is of good moral character and has a keen mind but he is of course hampered by inexperience. He doesn’t know that his uncle Lord Farzin actually killed his father by hiring an iterant Maylar priest to afflict him with a terrible disease while he was on a hunting trip and far away from any divine healer.

He was planning a subtle means to kill his nephew before Vern could sire an heir, but now that Synfaredia is saber rattling on the southern border Lord Farzin does not want to be Lord of Palbuc right now. Ideally this situation with Swynfaredia will blow over but not until after Lord Vern tragically dies in battle against the Swynfaredian menace. He is advising his beloved nephew that he needs to openly show strength and fight besides his men. He is also advising that sixteen is too young to think about marriage and he should wait for the Swynfareidan issue to be resolved before seeking a bride.

House Palbuc has a unique resource/ally. They have the only bishopric in Fumaya. A Bishopric is a province that is ruled by the church, in this case the Church of Korus. Technically the bishopric is a direct vassal of King Henryk, but possession is nine tenths of the law and they are surrounded by the lands of House Palbuc. The bishopric is primarily used as training temple. New recruits for all of Fumaya, parts of Swynfaredia, and even a few rare recruits from Loren come here to train before being sent out to other temples. Because the specialty magic of this temple is Plant magic, acre per acre, the bishopric provides way more food than the second most fertile lands.

The bishopric’s leader High Stewardess Brynn (might have to come up with a better title than High Stewardess) is a Swynfaredian by birth but she spent most of her life at the Bishopric and considers herself a Fumayan now. She is outwardly apolitical but her sympathies lie with Fumaya against Swynfaredian aggression. As a high ranking priestess of Korus, she has a much easier time entering Loren peacefully than almost any other human. She is trying and failing to get some kind of support from Loren pointing out that if Swynfaredia takes over Fumaya, that Loren will be the next most tempting target for future expansion. It’s something of a slippery slope argument but she also postulates that if Swynfaredia carves a piece from Loren’s southern lands, this will embolden Uskala to try to take a piece of their eastern lands.

At some point I need to develop Swynfaredian noble houses, at least those noble houses that are trying to meddle in Fumaya. Except for House Polnoc, each of the aforementioned houses have lesser noble houses answering to them but I think it would be overkill to develop these lesser houses unless the PCs decide to set up permanent shop somewhere, in which case, yes I should figure out who rules the lands they live in.


Clergy Characters that Might Get Involved

Hallisan’s Guardians

Hallisan’s priesthood has more spell-casters and competent fighters in Fumaya than the rest of the Nine’s priesthoods. They have chapels in every sizeable town and they fall under the auspices of single temple in Fumaya’s capital.

Revered Mother Aleksandra Frymar is the head of the Church of Hallisan in Fumaya. She believes Swynfaredia is the greatest threat and has redeployed all her most powerful spell-casters and warriors to the southern border to reinforce the army. She is unlikely to change her mind unless the north falls under a full scale invasion from orcs or she can get some sort of airtight assurance that the Swynfaredians are not coming.

If the PCs visit a chapel or temple away from the border they will find pleasant and helpful non-spellcasting priests that could provide useful local information to anyone who seems interesting in solving problems but they cannot really fight their way out of a paper bag.

If the PCs go digging they will find that a lot of the mid ranking priests and holy warriors under Aleksandra would rather be up north fighting orcs and monsters rather than standing guard against an invasion which may or may not actually manifest, but they aren’t going to disobey orders from their superior without a very good reason.

Phidas’ Masks

The Church of Phidas only has one temple in Fumaya which is in the capital. Another temple is under construction in Fumaya’s second largest city. The Masks run an organized circuit so traveling priests visit smaller towns and villages regularly and make sure the various Phidas shrines are well kept and Phidas is well thought of throughout the land.

Hubert is the Royal Mask of Fumaya, meaning he is the primary liason between the royal court and the priesthood of Phidas. Royal Mask a very prestigious position, but not in Fumaya. King Henryk and Hubert make a public show of friendship during Phidas’ major holidays but the other 363 days of the year, Hubert is not welcome in court.

Hubert considered plotting regicide, but he figures if the king dies a mysterious death, Hubert will be the primary suspect, so he’s playing it cool for now.

The priestess Danuta is the highest ranking Mask in Fumaya. She isn’t aiming for Phidas to get a voice in the royal court. She is aiming for Phidas to get a voice in the next generation’s royal court. In Fumaya, most feudal lords who highborn children who are highly unlikely to inherit titles and land get oblated to the priesthood of Khemra or Hallisan. Phidas’ priesthood has zero highborn Masks. Danuta figures if she can enough nobles in the next generation of Masks, the next generation of kings will have to accept Masks in court. She is aiming to ensnare lesser nobles with monetary debts and use that leverage to be able to educate their children.

I might throw in a third Mask that is conspiring with Swynfaredia but I’m not sure yet.


Mera’s Tenders

Mera’s priesthood has more priests and temples than any other priesthood in Fumaya, but most of their priests and priestesses are not spell-casters.

Beslyfle the gnome, is the highest ranking Tender in Fumaya. She believes that the Tenders will be in a position to help more people if they stay apolitical. If the Tenders start to take sides, she fears they will lose their freedom of movement. She is carefully coordinating a network of healers, both spell-casters and mundane healers to help those in need around Fumaya.

Rank in the priesthood of Mera is based more on seniority than power, Vadik is the most powerful spell-caster amongst the Tenders. He is also a sympathizer to the near-heretical Paladins faction. The Paladins believe that Mera’s priests can better protect the people if they seize power and issue tight controls. Vadik personally believes that being apolitical will only lead to more suffering but he’s willing to accept that things need to get worse before they can get better. The more people suffer, the more Tenders he can sway to his cause. Then with most of the priesthood of Mera behind him, they can ride in at Fumaya’s hour of greatest need and be the saviors of the nation.

Khemra’s Keepers

The Keepers do not have a lot of members in Fumaya but their highest ranked priest, Udom, is a primary advisor to the king. Udom is splitting his time between running the main temple and advising the king which is a lot of work for a man of his advanced age. He is fairly cautious and thoughtful, which is usually a good things but the current situation calls for more quick decisions and boldness.

Zarthus’ Lanterns

Zarthus boasts a few fairly modest temple in Fumaya’s capital and larger towns. The Lanterns here are primarily patrons of the arts which is admittedly hard to do in a nation short on gold and beset by many difficulties. They do not begrudge the nobles for withholding patronage of the arts as long as they redirect their gold to help the people in some way.

Rab the half-elf, is the most powerful Lantern in Fumaya. His adventuring party has been traveling Fumaya’s north trying to help the beleaguered people there. He is toying with the idea of the north seceding from Fumaya. If the southerners are not going to support the north, the north shouldn’t be supplying the south taxes and soldiers.

A lot of nobles avoid having children during Zarthus’ zodiac year because sometimes Zarthus’ favored souls pop up in the families of nobles who have zero sympathy for Zarthus’ values. Arial is one of them. She is a daughter of a Swynfaredian noble house. She is watching the situation in Fumaya carefully. She doesn’t wish an invasion about Fumaya, but she views Swynfaredian nobles as horrible oppressors. If and when Swynfaredia invades Fumaya, she plans to sabotage the Swynfaredians from the inside.

Korus’ Stewards

The Stewards of the Dominion care next to nothing about which nation claims which land or what the criminal element is doing. They are unlikely to lift a finger unless one of the political factions in Fumaya despoiling nature on a large scale. They do have a high opinion of Wood Elves. If the Wood Elves choose to back one of the factions, the Stewards of the Dominion may follow. I do not have any specific character ideas for Stewards of the Dominion.

The Stewards of the Gift are common in Fumaya. They are allies to all responsible farmers and because Fumaya is has an agrarian economy, Stewards are well respected. The problem is they are pretty apolitical and unlikely to use their influence. I’m thinking to make sure the Stewards aren’t a boring monolith of neutrality that if the PCs ask the high ranking priests for help and turn down, some eager wide-eyed acolytes will follow the PCs out and volunteer to help either fight monsters or fight crime.

Hahn is the head of the Korus temple in the capital, a member of Korus’ unofficial faction known as the Urban Stewards. He has no magical powers but he is an intelligent and well-spoken man who is a respected mediator in disputes between the merchant classes. If he could be swayed to intervene in problems he could

Brynn is a Swynfaredian by birth but she spent most of her life in Fumaya and considers herself a Fumayan. She is the most powerful spell-caster affiliated with Korus in the area. She runs a large temple in a small village that acts as a school where most young recruits to the Stewards begin their training.


Maylar’s Testers

Maylar’s priests are rarely well organized and they are hard to pigeonhole. Maylar has a temple in the capital. The rest of the country has to make due with shrines if even that.

Ujarek is the head priest in the capital, sort of. He would much rather sleep under the sky than sleep under a temple roof. He spends as much of his time in the wilderness as possible. He gathers regents for healing potions and scrolls. He mainly visits the capital to make potions and scrolls which one of his acolytes sells. Right now, his best customer is the local mafia.

“That which does not kill you makes you stronger” is an adage Maylar’s faithful love to recite. Maylar’s faithful frequently commit horrible acts in the name of making people strong. Ujarek does not. Ujarek is a member of the Shepherds, the most benign faction in Maylar’s priesthood. They don’t attack people just for fun. Over the years, more mainstream Testers have mistaken Ujarek’s non-malicious attitude for weakness. Ujarek buried them all.

He has much respect for Fumayans in the north. Life is hard there, so the people are strong. When visiting the north he’ll heal people for free. In the south, they got to pay lots of money for his help. If Swynfaredia invades and the southern Fumayans fight off the assault they’ll earn Ujarek’s respect. If not, oh well the strong thrive and the weak die.

He could be a potential ally to the PCs but the last Maylar priest they met tried to murder them (after trying to destroy two villages by hiding the tribute the villagers were supposed to pay off the local orcs with), so they are unlikely to try. Ujarek actually sold that priest scrolls, but he won’t hold a grudge if he finds out. That guy was a fool.

Greymoria’s Children

Greymoria’s clergy are seldom welcome in civilized lands. Fumaya does not have a strong arcane tradition so they would have little to hold the Children’s interest.

In most cases, if a nation is faltering like Fumaya is the Children will just watch and laugh or kick them while they are down. Swynfaredia is home to the largest concentration of a heretical faction within Greymoria’s priesthood. This faction preaches that those born with arcane power are superior to those who gain arcane magic through study or pacts.

If Swynfaredia invades, this might lure some more mainstream Children out of the woodwork to try to prevent Swynfaredia from getting any stronger, but I don’t have any specific character ideas.

Nami’s Rovers

Per their name, most Rovers don’t lay down roots. Nami has only a small number of temples in Fumaya. These temples are waystations for traveling Rovers. Rovers show up to lead Fumayans in celebration of Nami’s holy days then they tend to leave without giving Fumaya much more thought.

I don’t have any specific character ideas for Rovers at this time. I am thinking of keeping the Rovers as an emergency deus ex machina. If the PCs are really struggling I could have a Rover show up and help them out. A lot of Rovers value the common good and many Rovers view Swynfaredia as a force of oppression. If the PCs are doing especially well I can have a Rover show up and sabotage their efforts just because one of my PCs is a high ranking priest of Khemra who happens to be Nami’s greatest rival.

 

Since I don't have advanced spatial reasoning skills, it's a straight sided cylinder also I can fold a paper map of the world into a cylinder.