lørdag den 31. august 2013

Eletha Moonray

I saw the crystal spires of the Elven Queen's Palace. I saw the perfect statues, I saw the impeccable paintings and I saw the flawless high elves. But nothing approached the beauty of Eletha herself. Radiant, serene and exquisite, she sat atop the crystal throne, her immortal and wise gaze in stark contrast with her youthful and impossible perfect looks.

-Warlord Karip, Belcoast, year 5771

Many call her the Elven Queen, but Eletha is no such thing. She is however the moral and spiritual leader of all elves, both high elves and wood elves. She lives somewhere in Oakwood, in an elven castle hidden deep in the woods. The location is secret to all but her and her guards. All visitors who seek her out are led through the wood blindfolded.

And Eletha has many visitors. Men and women of power often travel far in order to seek out her wisdom. While no one who knows speaks of her true age, it is known that she was alive and already a political force to be recognized prior to the Second Demon War.

It is said she forms no permanent alliances, but it is however widely known that the Elven Queen dislikes both Xuk the Orc Lord and Natalia Blackhorn and their followers, and will do just about anything to keep them from succeeding in their goal.

søndag den 25. august 2013

Dorn Anvilsmith

Bah, human politics. Warlords come and go, but the dwarves are eternal. We have no interest in their wars, expect that we want to be left alone to build and craft.

- Dorn Anvilsmith, Hillstown, Year 5803

After the Great Demon War, Dorn Anvilsmith's father, the late Gongar Anvilsmith, rallied the hill dwarves of the Seven Army Nations and built Hillstown, a dwarven town located between Laketower and Starkhold. Dorn has ruled Hillstown for more than 50 years, as chieftain of the hill dwarves in Hillstown. Behind his back Dorn is sarcastically called the Dwarven King. A king without a kingdom and without a united people. To his face, very few dare mention that. While not the hero his father was, he is still a dwarf with a big axe and very much in his prime. While he is the uncontested leader of the hill dwarves, Dorn is not popular amongst the mountain dwarves. They see him as a weak ruler, not one who can or will unite the dwarves and carve out a dwarven kingdom amongst the warlords of the Seven Army Nations.

Aurac

In years, the Chosen One, will be born of mortal flesh -honest, truthful,  just. Unite the nations - under his rule, he will. And we shall lead the mortals. A golden era, will start with the golden king, when he arrives.

- Famous last words of Aurac, Year 5715

During the Second Demon War, few made as big a contribution to the defense of the human lands as Aurac. The ancient Gold Dragon fought the demonic hosts and led the humans against the infernal armies time and time again. It was a beacon of hope during a very dark time, and even though it was not Aurac who closed the portal, many believe that without it, no one would have survived the invasion.

After the war, it helped rebuild the nation, trying to steer the humans towards creating a united kingdom under a just king. That failed, as too many were too greedy and impatient. Aurac grew tired of the constant bickering amongst the mortals, and disappeared from the lives of mankind. If sages are to be believed, Aurac sleeps somewhere in the bowels of the earth, waiting for his chosen one to be born.

When Aurac went away, some felt he did so because he felt let down. In order to show Aurac he was not alone, quasi-worship of him and his ideals sprung up. The most famous and powerful of those groups are the Knights of the Golden Wyrm, an order of knights which fights for justice and hope in an otherwise harsh and often brutal world.

lørdag den 3. august 2013

The Second Demon War

Achgarud, Pfaragir and Yangou. Every child living the Second Demon War knew their names. The three Pit Fiends, named the Red Triad by mortals, who in the name of Asmodeus led the forces of Hell to Gemnos and proceeded to destroy most of what is now known as the Cursed Lands. Achgarud, Pfaragir and Yangou, names that will never be forgotten, because they will live on in our nightmares forever.

Archibaz Delvar of Oldtown, Principality of Churaz, 5701
In the year of 5679, what is now known as the Cursed Lands, 101 cultists of Asmodeus, armed with an ancient artifact called the Dimensional Sword and more than 1000 devotees to sacrifice, managed to open a demon-hole, a semi-permanent portal to Hell. In poured thousands and thousands of devils and demons, led by a trio of Pit Fiends who eventually would go down in history as the Red Triad.

This was no ordinary war of conquest, it was a war for souls and destruction. No quarter was given, no mortal left alive when taken. It was a war for survival and for 21 years, the infernal armies swept through the lands of men, destroying cities and killing all. Those who had not died had fled, with only a few brave armies staying behind to halt the progression of the infernal host. Had it not been for a band of adventurers called the Brave Wyverns, the infernal forces would surely have consumed all on Gemnos.

The four adventurers had figured out a way to reverse the portal. They snuck and fought their way to the portal, and while Karan Demonslayer, Red Jack and Arthuro the Pure occupied Yangou and his servants, Esteban Timebender managed to reverse the portal. Alas for the heroes, the reversal created a great explosion that rocked all of the continent (and created the Great Crevasse) before it sucked all devils and demons back to Hell. The war was over, but at what cost? The greatest heroes were dead and along with them, millions of others. More than 9 out of 10 people who lived in the empire prior to the war were dead. Cities and farms stood empty, and all but the biggest city walls were destroyed.

The people of the Seven Army Nation

Human, orc, elf. It does not matter, they all bleed and die when they meet my grandfather's axe.

Torak Ironhammer, Darkwood Town, Kingdom of Drahar, 5799

Humans


Just as in the rest of Gemnos, there are two distinct human races. One black, one white. Sunites and Moonites. Born during the day, Sunites are black, while Moonites are born during the night and white. The time of birth determines the color of skin, nothing else. Two white Moonites can just as easily as two black Sunites get a Sunite as son or daughter. Aside from the their skin color, humans of Gemnos are as diverse as those of other worlds, but there are only those two types of humans.

Elves


There are two kinds of elves living on the surface of Gemnos. The high elves are the most commonly encountered, even though they represent the smallest fraction of the elves. Even though they as a general rule are reclusive, you can still find small enclaves in most big cities. Otherwise, they build small communities in remote areas, typically in remote mountains or deep, dark forests.

The other side of the coin, the wood elves are more common in numbers, but since most of them are xenophobic, they keep to themselves in the woods. Even though most keep to themselves, some wood elf communities still keep informal ties with nearby human communities. Very few wood elves are encountered outside their woods.

Halflings


There are also two types of halflings. On one hand, there are the lightfoot halflings. Explorers, travelers, traders and merchants, their extended family-clans travel up and down the rivers and along all the roads of the Seven Army Nation. Some make their living in the cities, where they either run merchant businesses or more shadier businesses. Generally friendly but a bit reserved, expecially those who live in the cities tend to have a bit more edge.

The other kind of halfling, the stout halflings are family orientated farmers, who often live far from big cities and other races. Sometimes they form bonds with wood elves in nearby forests, but that is it. As a general rule, they are happy to keep to themselves and not get involved in the affairs of the big world. But once in a generation, even a stout halfling can be caught up in the lust of adventure and seek out the road.

Dwarves


The hill dwarves are by far the most common of dwarves in the Seven Army Nation, but there is only one hill dwarf enclave, the town of Hillstown. The rest are spread out, families living amongst humans, working as weapon smiths, jewelers and mercenaries. The many years amongst the other races have made them more easy-going and understanding than the mountain dwarves.

The mountain dwarves are fairly rare, they usually live as miners or crafters in big cities. Since they have no cities, they have a tendency to huddle together in the human cities. They dream of the ancient days of glory, when the mountain dwarves ruled the mountains and the underground over all of Gemnos. They dream of reestablishing the ancient line of dwarven kings and once again have Gemnos beat to the beat of their hammers.

Gnomes


The last of the original races of Gemnos is the gnomes. As most of the other races, the two kinds of gnomes are very different from one and another. On one hand, there is the forest gnomes - shy, animal lovers who live on the fringe of elven communities, and rarely seen far from a forest. On the other hand, you have the rock gnomes. Tinkers and builders, mad scientists who live for building and blowing up things. Rock gnomes are commonly found in Alkabar near the Howling Mountains, the city who by far holds the biggest concentration of rock gnomes, but most major cities have quite a few.

The rest


Aside from the five original races, created at the birth of Gemnos by the Twins, there are four races which have been created later.

The half elf started as a symbol of a man-elf alliance that created peace across most of Gemnos some 6000 years ago. For 1 years, all children born by elves and humans alike were half-elves. Since then, it has been it's own race.

The half orc is the creation of ancient high elf wizards. 1200 years ago, when the last high elven empire ruled large parts of what is now the Cursed Lands, they were, when the empire was starting to decline, losing a war against barbarian tribes. To match the ferocity of the barbarians, the high elves took certain attributes from the orcs and magically infused humans with said attributes. The goal was of course to create a hardier, stronger and more intelligent race than the orc, to use in the wars. They succeeded and won the wars. When the empire crumbled years later, the half-orc was free of it's shackles and now considered as it's own race.

In ancient times, Gemnos was mostly ruled by the dragons for almost 2000 years. At the height of their power, the power of the dragons was said to rival the gods', and so was their ego. Not content with ruling the lands and the people, the dragons created a humanoid race in their own image to serve them. The dragonborn. With the fall of the draconic empire, the dragonborn were left to their own. Nowadays in the Cursed Lands, dragonborn are most often found as mercenaries and sell-swords. Honorable and able, they live and die by their ancient codes.

The last of the created races, the tiefling, is another biological left-over from the ancient empires. The descendants of arrogant warlocks with an insatiable thirst for power who made a deal with Asmodeus, most tieflings live their lives in the shadows, on the fringes of civilization. Tieflingism is seem by many as a curse, especially in the rural areas. Maybe that is why many tieflings seem to have a shady character and a huge chip on their shoulders.

fredag den 2. august 2013

Religion

Followers of the so-called gods are suckers and sycophants, wasting their prayers on abstract ideas with no real power. But this is how my lord wants the world to be, so who am I to question him?

Zakr, High Priest of Cyric, somewhere near Highmeadow, Seven Army Nation, 5843.

Worship in Gemnos has changed a lot over the course of it's more than 10.000 years of history.

At first, although the world was created by the Twins, worship was solely to the Primal Spirits. As the people of Gemnos evolved, they started to worship the Twins. Many years passed and more and more began to either worship the Sun or the Moon.

Then others began to worship other aspects of the Twins, such as Fire and Ice, Sword and Magic etc. The next step was to make those entities more precise, giving them names and individuality.

The worship of Cyric, the Prince of Shadows came slowly over the years, seemingly out of nothing, while the worship of Bahamut exploded after the First Demon War, quickly followed by the worship of Bane.

That means that in this day and age, the people of Gemnos worship 19 different gods (Primal Spirits, the Twins, 14 aspects of the Twins, Cyric, Bahamut and Bane). Aside from those "gods", quite a few also worship the Saints of Heaven while others worship the Lords of Hell.

Cosmology

Gemnos, or the mortal world, is thousands of years old. But there are other, older worlds nearby. Aligned with Gemnos are the Faerie and the Underworld, two planes similar yet very different from the mortal world, and the Astral Sea, holding as diverse places as Heaven, Hell, the Elemental Chaos, The Pillars of Order and The Infinite Bazaar (with the Casino).

The Seven Army Nation

To the west and south of the Cursed Lands lies the nation called the Seven Army Nation. A nation of hard and brutal men, the Seven Army Nation is a nation of city-states bound by a fragile and constantly tested alliance. It is a nation surrounded by wilderness and monsters. It is a nation hardened by war, where everybody looks out for themselves.

Right now, the power of the Seven Army Nation is more or less evenly distributed amongst the nine warlords that rule the nine biggest city-states. They each rule like kings and emperors from their fortified cities, each watching the others like a hawk, waiting for one of the others to show weakness. Meanwhile, they openly support the coalition to work together against outside threats, while trying to gain more territory to control.

While the nine warlords are very different from one another, make no mistake, they are warlords for a reason.

Nimalar

The continent of Nimalar, greatest on Gemnos, is located squarely in the center of Gemnos. It is dominated by the Empire of Zun to the north and the Kyzian Empire to the south.

Tucked in between the two mighty and ancient empires, are the Cursed Lands. Named such after their fate during the Second Demon War, the Cursed Lands are both new and ancient. Ancient because more than seven empires have made the Cursed Lands their home, and new because the area and it's inhabitants were almost wiped out 150 years ago.

But although they returned, the Cursed Lands are still easily the least populated of all of Ural.

The populace of the Cursed Lands have founded 10 nations so far, but those nations only cover less than half of the Cursed Lands. The rest is still wilderness, inhabited by only the bravest and stupidest, as well as by monsters of all sorts.

The world

Gemnos is an ancient world, flat and circular in shape, surrounded by the mysterious and deadly Mists of Madness, who kill all who enter them.

Gemnos is a large world, with the landmass divided into roughly nine continents.

Due to Gemnos' shape, the sun always rise and set at the same time. At seven AM and seven PM. Likewise the moon rises and sets opposite of the sun.

The southern-most part of Gemnos is constantly covered by magical clouds, which causes the lands beneath to be significantly colder than the rest of the world.

Central area of Seven Army Nation

Campaign start area