92 lines
6.0 KiB
Markdown
92 lines
6.0 KiB
Markdown
Title: Etravar
|
|
Description: bss's high fantasy campaign setting, a world of adventuring and discovery.
|
|
|
|
# Etravar
|
|
|
|
Etravar is bss's home campaign setting, a universe of high fantasy, setting adventuring and discovery against the
|
|
backdrop of points of light in the wilderness and the forgotten legacy of lost eras. It is meant to be a rich, varying
|
|
world, where any type of adventure can occur among its many continents and regions, most of which haven't (in game
|
|
terms) been written of or described yet.
|
|
|
|
## History
|
|
|
|
### Creation
|
|
|
|
In the beginning, The One Beyond spawned three goddesses out of the endless nothingness --- the twin sisters Nydia,
|
|
goddess of light and Dysthia, goddess of darkness, and Etra, goddess of existence. The twin sisters both coveted domain
|
|
over Etra, and waged a bitter war, bringing about the light of the stars and the darkness of the void, creating the
|
|
universe. As they sparred over eons, their wounds shed their essence and, merging with that of Etra's, created the
|
|
planes, including the material plane which is (inaccurately) considered to be Etra herself. The war between the sisters
|
|
also brought forth the Etran pantheon --- darkness and light combining chaotically to produce divine concepts of sun,
|
|
moon, life, death, and so on --- countless immortal forces that shape the universe.
|
|
|
|
### Civilization
|
|
|
|
There is no agreed upon definition --- or even guess --- of the age of the world, or life on Etra. Contemporary scholars
|
|
believe there are at least one hundred millennia of empires rising and falling that have shaped the world, but this is
|
|
as much a guess as any previous attempt to estimate the age of Etra. This belief holds that in those lost ages, multiple
|
|
progenitor species native to Etra gave rise to great civilizations before disappearing from the record of time, be it by
|
|
gradual decline, war, leaving for other worlds, or so on. Little is known about these progenitors and their cultures
|
|
other than the undocumented relics and ruins left behind.
|
|
|
|
The oldest known history is owned by the elves and dwarves, both ancient ancestries in their own right. They shaped the
|
|
lands above and below long before humankind rose to prominence, and in a way shaped the ecology of Etra itself --- their
|
|
vast cities and dungeons have become part of the world's genetic memory, and it naturally spawns weird dungeons,
|
|
corrupted or blessed plazas, and the like. The living world creates not just flora and fauna, but also grand towers and
|
|
abominable strongholds.
|
|
|
|
It is claimed by some that an immense magical calamity brought about by the elves and dwarves brought Etra --- both the
|
|
world and the goddess --- to the brink of annihilation, with this symbiosis of "manmade" constructs its/her only chance
|
|
at survival, but both cultures' leaders and scholars vehemently reject such slander.
|
|
|
|
## The Material Plane
|
|
|
|
The world of Etravar is known as Etra based on the goddess's influence and divine history, and consists of five primary
|
|
continents, each separated from the other by large oceans. Travel between the continents is quite rare, but not unknown;
|
|
due to their relative isolation, their histories and culture tend to differ, and even the recognized pantheon can vary
|
|
as some deities are known by multiple names or unknown in a region entirely.
|
|
|
|
### Trezuria
|
|
|
|
Trezuria is a long continent, spanning most of the latitudes, leading to a diverse climate over its span. It is roughly
|
|
divided into a north and south Trezuria, split by a vast mountain range in the middle that runs from ocean to ocean.
|
|
|
|
Magitech has started to flourish in south Trezuria, as mages and artificers have driven rapid
|
|
advances in machines and rituals in the largest cities, and those advances have begun to spread throughout the
|
|
continent. Natural borders and uninhabited lands have been the primary impediment to a rapid spread of magitech to the
|
|
rest of Etra, but these advances have not come without detractors.
|
|
|
|
## Peoples
|
|
|
|
The sapient species that compose the people of Etra come in a wide variety --- human-like or not --- and are further
|
|
distinguished into various cultures, kin, and ethnicities based on their home region, shared traditions, flavor of
|
|
religion, and so on. Humans, elves, and dwarves combined make up a rough majority in Etra, but there is no clear
|
|
dominant species nor supermajority among the peoples of the world. Though isolated lands and cultures exist, it is not
|
|
unusual for most groups to maintain a mix of types of people. Within the forgotten lands, it is possible that even the
|
|
progenitors still live.
|
|
|
|
## Religion
|
|
|
|
Hundreds of major and minor deities fill the Etran pantheon, and most life activities and ideas are either directly
|
|
represented in a a deity's portfolio, or have a patron associated with a deity. Commonfolk rarely devote themselves to
|
|
only one deity, rather making prayers and pleas to the deities representing the trials and blessings of day-to-day life.
|
|
Clerics and paladins of a particular god are the notable exception, but even as they call on the power of the deity that
|
|
grants their power, they will readily say a prayer to an allied deity.
|
|
|
|
Despite their role in creating the unknown universe, the Three Sisters (Nydia, Dysthia, and Etra) have no particular
|
|
dominance or hierarchial role in the Etran pantheon.
|
|
|
|
## Themes Gaming in Etravar
|
|
|
|
* The universe is a wide assortment of planes, including forces of law/chaos, good/evil, and light/dark, connected via an
|
|
astral plane.
|
|
* Magic is common but not commonly-practiced, and is nearly limitless in potential.
|
|
* Magical corruption has warped the land and perhaps life itself, causing an ebb and flow of strange phenomena,
|
|
essentially limitless in scope.
|
|
* Casting magic can be learned, divinely bestowed, or inherent.
|
|
* Civilization ranges from hunter tribes to grand metropolises, points of light with much uncharted territory in
|
|
between.
|
|
* The world is old, many civilizations have risen and fallen.
|
|
* The world itself is magical, and not strictly bound by natural law.
|
|
* Humans, elves, and dwarves are most common among civilized lands, but plenty of other sapient species show up.
|