Tell me about your homebrew world

Apr 21, 2020 2:48 am
Let's have some fun. Just as it says above. I'll kick it off.

In the beginning, there were the dwarves, the "Children of Stone." Born of the very earth itself, the dwarves were the first beings to set foot upon (or more correctly, in) Jenneria. The dwarves refer to themselves as khuduk, which means "the People" in their rough tongue.

The elves, the "Children of the Stars" were next. Millennia ago, a vessel crash-landed on this world. The occupants were a race of tall, light-haired beings who called themselves the mawr. With time, the progeny of these survivors spread across the world, some mingling with other races, while others stayed hidden away. This gave rise to two castes of elves; the mawr, descendents of the original refugees, and the adlawiaid, mixed or "low" elves, the children of those who intermingled with other races of Jenneria.

The origins of the elves are shrouded in mystery, even among themselves. They are also known as the Children of the Stars, though no living elf can say why, exactly. In fact, they are not natives of Jenneria. Though the oldest living elf does not remember it, legends are told of an event known as the Arrival, when the first elves came to this world from the very stars themselves. The stars, according to the legend, are actually distant suns, many with other worlds orbiting them. The elves used vessels to travel among the stars, but one of their vessels became damaged and was forced to land on this strange world. Stranded, the occupants tried to survive as best they could. With time, they adapted to their new life. Some even choose to mingle with the native life on this world, while others remained hidden from the eyes of the inhabitants.

Contrary to popular opinion, the legends are true. The original elves were travelers from another world, stranded here when their vessel was damaged and fell from the heavens. Over the resultant generations, the elves have divided themselves into two separate castes. One has strived to remain separate from the natives of this world. They hid themselves away in secret places and even today, remain a source of legend and rumor. The other, who would become known among their brethren as heathens, mingled with the native races, living among them and even breeding with them. Over time, the resultant mingling of bloodlines has produced the elves that most Jennerians are familiar with.

The first caste is that of the mawr, those descended from the first elves to set foot upon Jenneria. In the Olven tongue, mawr means "High Ones," or those who are above others. Few Jennerians ever see the mawr. The keep themselves hidden from the eyes of men, and even from the other races of elves. Superstitions about the mawr abound. The Skåva believe that the mawr (or the elvere in their tongue) are stunningly beautiful, but disease-ridden forest spirits best avoided. Among the Keltoi, mawr are called sidhe, and are other-worldly beings from a distant and magical land. To the Valorans, the fey are a diminutive and shy folk with capricious whims. They have been known to help mortals, but are also said to sometimes steal away children, leaving their own offspring to be raised in their stead.

Physically, the mawr are tall, most top 6 foot, and extremely attractive by human standards. They are also long-lived, with an average lifespan of 1,000 years. They are humanoid, with pointed ears and almond-shaped eyes that are slightly larger than human eyes. They are slender of frame and quite lithe. Their hair ranges from platinum to golden blonde, and their eyes are almost universally ice blue.

The adlawiaid are the elves with whom most Jennerians are familiar. The Olven word adlawiaid means "inferior," and pretty accurately sums up the feelings of the mawr towards their brethren. No adlawiaid is ever welcome in a mawr community, even in desperate times.

The humans were next, known as the "Children of the Gods," for their creation myths which state that the gods formed them from clay and water, baked then in fire, and then blew the breath of life into the shapes. There are three tribes of humans; the dark-skinned, the light-skinned, and the olive-skinned. Once, they all lived together in relative harmony on a continent called Arcadia. But Arcadia was destroyed in a cataclysm some 2500 years ago, and the three tribes were dispersed throughout the remaining lands. The area where Arcadia once stood is now a swirling permanent storm known only as the Maelstrom.

Some humans displeased the gods and rebelled against them, and these were twisted and malformed, becoming the beast races; the orks, minotaurs, gnolls, goblins, bugbears and the like. They are sometimes called the "Children of Darkness," but this is strictly a human sobriquet. Few get along with one another, even their own species, and they do not typically form societies so much as loose communities or warbands held together by a powerful leader.

Gnomes are a fey race, distantly related to the elves. The details of their creation are lost to themselves, though many speculate that the dwarves were involved as well (a notion that both elves and dwarves scoff at). The gnomes themselves don’t seem to care overmuch. As they are fond of saying, "We’re here; what more is there to know?"

And then there are the halflings (or as they refer to themselves, the hinfolk). Ask a halfling where the halflings come from, and you’ll get the ubiquitous answer; "A mommy and a daddy love each other very much, and to show just how much they love each other…"

The serpent-folk, or saarkiss’ origins are extraplanar, though a mystery beyond that. As the snake-men are notoriously uncooperative and generally do not permit themselves to be taken prisoner (preferring death), it has proven difficult to learn much about them and their origins.

Just before the destruction of Arcadia, a prophet named Kristos foretold of the coming disaster and led his followers from the shores of Arcadia. He was deified after his death and his followers now practice the Krystaran religion. Krystaranism is one of the two major religions on the world (the other being Pagahi). That isn't to say that other cultures don't have their own gods, but these two beliefs are multicultural.

Among all of the races of Jenneria, the dragons are the most ancient. They were created from the very bones of the earth when the rays of the first dawn split the eternal night and though their glory has faded with the passage of time, it is not diminished. Many races believe the dragons to be immortal, and the dragons themselves do not speak of such things to lesser races. In any case, it is true that they are among the most long-lived of beings.

A dragon is just past its prime as it moves into Great Wyrm stage. Beginning at about 2,000 years (it differs from dragon to dragon), the effects of age begin to show. A dragon of 5,000 years is rare in the extreme and will show its age in the form of lost scales, missing teeth, shriveled wings, and general disrepair. Only one dragon of such extreme age has ever been encountered by anyone who lived to speak of it and this particular wyrm, despite its advanced age, blindness in one eye, and inability to fly, still managed to slay the bulk of a small army before succumbing to their might.

From ancient texts, this was determined to be Ancalaxus the Forge, the great beast that once brought terror to the southern lands and was presumed to have perished thousands of years before. Estimates place his age at 6,000 and some odd years at the time of his defeat. He had lain within his lair, in a state of suspended animation not unlike hibernation, for almost two thousand years, when he was awakened by a thief who stumbled upon the den and, mistaking the dragon's torpor for death, began looting the place.

If a dragon could hibernate for a period measured in thousands of years, there is no way to say how long they can live. It is generally accepted by sages that a dragon will perish somewhere before reaching the age of 8,000 years, but they admit that this is pure speculation, based on the fact that no dragon older than Ancalaxus has ever been encountered. The dragons themselves no doubt know, but they aren't telling. They do have the disconcerting habit of referring to non-draconic species as "mortals," which may be a clue or may simply be arrogance on their part.

It is not even known for certain that they do die. Throughout history, some dragons have simply mysteriously disappeared, but they, like Ancalaxus, may simply be in torpor or they may have left for other parts or simply have been slain by someone who, for whatever reason, did not advertise the deed. Dragon corpses showing extreme aging have never been reported, so it seems plausible that they either do not die, or that they go someplace hidden to perish (like the legendary Elephant's Graveyard of Earth). If such a "Dragon's Graveyard" exists on Jenneria, its existence has never been reported.

In the real world, Jenneria gets its name from its origins. Originally, it was simply a continent where I placed all the "generic" modules from 1E (those that weren't set in an established world). With time, it grew into a world of its own and a campaign world in its own right.
Last edited April 22, 2020 9:36 pm
Apr 21, 2020 7:48 am
https://db4sgowjqfwig.cloudfront.net/campaigns/26454/assets/713696/kort5.PNG

This one is my homebrew world. The first campaign was with the Swedish/Danish ruleset "Drager og demoner" (Dragons and demons), the second campaign is in D&D 5e.
I had to accommodate for some new 5e rases, so Dragonborns comes from the jungle (Jungle) and Tieflings are the newest rase as they entered through a stable portal to Sigil. The portal is located in Ring-muren (circle wall)

Kanaros and Redheim are your classic fantasy nations. Turch Kejseriet is a desert/araib/Al Quadim nation, and Nordriget is a norse/viking themed area. The rest of the map hav yet to be explored

The gods
When I started my first campaign, we started in a small corner of the map so me and my players could explore the geography together. But I needed to sort out the gods in my world. Being a lazy GM, I picked the gods from my first GM homebrew, and had them kill each other off in a divine war. Instant history, loads of names, but no answering gods. The first campaign ended when the players found the next gods, 4 sleeping sisters that received all the payer mana from the people.

The theme
I am not afraid to mix it up and surprise my players. There is a city called Kali it was sacked by a combined elven/orc army in response to humankind ever expanse into their territory. Several times I have changed my map as major things happen, like when the wizard city nation Pentari declared war, established it borders, fought a cold war against Kanaros and in the second campaign Pentari collapsed due to a biological plague.

Current world plot
The original gods might have created the world, but the building blocks are still there. Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire. Each of these are represented by a major elemental. South of Roak is Aret (the scar) a grand canyon kind canyon , this is the home of the world earth elemental, its the tarrasque. There is a huge volcano where the world fire elemental lives and so on. All in the tarrasque weight class
A wizard has learned the ways of the defilers and is drawing power from the world air elemental. This is causing instability and constant bad weather in the world.
But there are some storm sorceresses that are trying to heal the elemental, and a storm cult that is reviving an old male storm god, that is making it harder for the players to discover the real reason for the bad weather.
My players are currently lev 11 and at some point, they have to deal with an insane world emental, get the other elementals to calm it down and thus save the world. But they are just now figuring this out.
Last edited April 21, 2020 8:34 am
Apr 21, 2020 8:13 am
I think the easiest way to sum up my main home brew setting is with the broad history, as there is a lot of stuff happening when you zoom into what’s happening in the world itself, especially with the rather long list of races that live there...

In the beginning there was only the primordial chaos, and it's random fluctuations were… boring, so a creative spirit dispersed some of the chaos and created a blank canvas of wispy silver and separated it from the chaos beyond. From the Astral Mists, the creative called forth a being with out a name in mortal tongues, the divines named it Youiae, the over deity.

Youiae surveyed the Astral Mists, and gathered together much of the mist, sundering the collected mist into new components, splitting it into fire, water, earth, air, life and death. Taking each of these new elements Youiae forged them into great spheres, and from the spheres formed the elemental planes. Admiring the structure formed and finding it pleasing, Youiae decide all was done. The Creative spirit surveyed the works of Youiae and was displeased, it was more interesting than the primordial chaos, but unlike that swirling mass it could not change or grow. So the creative spirit raised from each plane one of the Primordials; Aral, Goddess of Fire, Oweath God of Water, Airak God of Earth, Urias Goddess of Air, Ilnei Divine of Life and Yrthos Divine of Death. With the creation of the Primordials, the spirit of creativity seemed to depart, or at least its influence was not know to anything, mortal or divine. The Primordials would leave their planes often to dance with each other, and as they danced they wove together the elements and forged the world of Theril.

Each of the Primordial Gods were equal in power, yet Ilnei and Yrthos contributed little to the creation of Theril, Ilnei would join the dances, but focused their energies on the other divines, whereas Yrthos loathed the others and kept mostly to their own domain, Yrthos particularly loathed Ilne who was greatly loved by the other Primordials. Although their affections were spread among all the Primordeals, Ilnei had a particular love for Airak, who had spent much of his time dancing about Theril. As Ilnei danced with Airak, Yrthos cursed Ilnei in an attempt to bring calamity to them. Ilnei and Airak had a child Selus, Goddess of the Moon, but Kerthos' curse corrupted Selus and the Goddess was of two minds. Ilnei was shattered by her daughters self-hatred and vowed to never again have a child. Part of Selus wanted to bathe Theril in light, while the other desired to cover it in darkness. In the resulting battle Selus tore herself asunder creating Karis, the Goddess of Darkness. The two goddesses continued to fight, hating each other even more than Yrthos hated Ilnei. From the mingled blood of the two Goddesses Mysth, Goddess of Magic was formed. Mysth sided with Selus, and together they drove back Karis. Selus was greatly weakened by the fray, specks of her vary being scattered across the sky and she could not provide constant light to Theril, her powers waxing and waning. Caris hid from the light in the depths of Theril and vowed for revenge.


Mysth recognised that Yrthos had cursed Ilnei and lifted the curse. Freed from the guilt of what had happened Ilnei had many divine children, with Airak, Oweath and Aral. The other Primordeals desired children as well, bringing forth a myriad of deities, all except Kerthos who remained in isolation. This first generation of divines were empowered with creative force, adding something new to Theril.  Youiae was distraught, the perfect planes of it’s creation were now tainted by the multitudes of other works. In an attempt to stop the tides of new deities, Joil forbade the Primordials from leaving their home planes. This plan was insufficient. The Primordials' children were not bound, and continued their dancing across creation. These elder deities had children of there own, the younger deities, who were not as empowered as their parents, and instead embodied aspects in the world of Theril.

Youiae was not pleased by all the disorder in its creation and banished all the deities to Theril, binding them in avatar form where their powers were greatly diminished and made a great decree: No more divines. The young gods though where not compliant, though they no longer could dance the complex forms of deific courtships they could still meet with mortals. From these encounter's were born the demi-divines, who had powers almost equal to the divines themselves. This time became known as the Age of Wandering, as the divines wandered Theril and gathered for themselves many followers.

Youiae was furious with the fact the young gods had broken it's law and decided that the creations of the gods would no longer stain the universe. Thus the Divine War began, it wouldn't last for long. The seas frothed, the ground shook, fires erupted from the ground. The winds howled in vast storms, the sun backed the earth as Divines and the Over Deity struggled over the fate of creation and then, nothing. After what only seemed like a few hours for the mortals the tempest subsided, but there was something amiss, the skies was a broiling silver mist. Priests reported that they could no longer commune with their deities, spell casters were left powerless and a terrible sickness took over those who could once wield magic. When explorers were sent out to discover the extent of the destruction they returned with chilling news. A great silver fog surrounded the world in all directions, and any who entered it never returned. The fog surrounded the world in a great sphere of diameter of about two thousand miles.

For the last hundred years the remnant world settled adjusting to the new reality they lived in, but the world stirs once more and their are whispers that the magic is returning...
Apr 22, 2020 9:40 pm
On Languages in Jenneria
Orks in Jenneria do not use pronouns and even participles are often omitted. Sentence structure is noun-verb. An ork would not say, "I am hungry," he would say, "Throg hungry." If the subject is clear, the noun might even be dropped; the above example could be shortened to simply, "Hungry." The noun is only considered necessary to indicate the subject when it is not clear what is being discussed. This structure is not due to a learning disability on the part of the orks (in fact, they are about as smart as a typical human) but is just the way their speech patterns have developed). Orkan has no written form, as all tradition is oral. The language is a corruption of the Jotun tongue.

Jotun (the language of the giants, and the basis for Stonespeech), on the other hand, does have a written form, though it is seldom used by ogres and a couple of the lesser giant races (they are simply too stupid to be literate). As mentioned, Stonespeech (the dwarven tongue) is an offshoot of Jotun, though a separate language unto itself. A person familiar with one can probably understand about 25% of what is being conveyed in the other. Both written forms are runic based, though Jotun has become more scripted over the years (as the greater giant races moved to parchment and other forms of messaging), where the dwarves have largely continued to use stone for conveying messages.

Human languages vary widely. There is no "common" tongue that everyone shares, but there is a unique language called Trade Tongue that is based on the language of Arcadia (from before the Exodus). Trade Tongue, as the name implies, is used primarily by merchants, and is suitable for conveying fairly complex ideas, though several important words are missing from it. Even so, it allows communication between people of different races and regions and there is usually at least one person in any given village or town that speaks it well enough to serve as a translator.

Halflings, being nomadic by nature, are unique in that they speak a mishmash of whatever local dialects abound. Natural linguists, they easily learn and incorporate words used by other races into their speech. In a forest populated primarily by elves, the bulk of their speech would be Olven, but one might also hear snippets of Orkan (from the orks of the nearby hills), Trade Tongue, and whatever human languages are spoken in nearby villages and towns. Hinspeak is truly a living language that changes often. Halflings have no written language of their own, and usually use the most oft-spoken language in the region for written missives.

Elves speak Olven, which has two distinct forms; High Olven (or "True" Olven) and Low Olven. This is because the elves themselves are a divided people. The two variants are very similar, differing primarily in accents and inflection, and a speaker of one can easily understand the speech of someone speaking the other (with the exception of a few words in Low Olven that were adapted from other languages). High Olven is nearly unchanging, having undergone little alteration over the centuries, where Low Olven is a living language, constantly changing to suit the needs of the speakers. The written forms are identical.

As strange as it may seem, the gnomes use a variant of Low Olven for their speech. This is because they are spirits of the woodlands. The origins of the gnomish race are shrouded in mystery, though some speculate that it involves both the elves and the dwarves. The elves refuse to speak of this, and the dwarves scoff at the idea that any self-respecting dwarf could have "relations" with an elf. The gnomes themselves don't give it much thought. Gnomish has a written form, a script that resembles the flowing Olven script.

That brings us to Draconic, the tongue of the Dragons. The dragons of Jenneria are eternal, with lifespans measured in thousands of years (if they even die at all, which has never been confirmed; no dragon has ever been found that has died of natural causes). Draconic is an ancient tongue, full of sibilants and hard consonants. The written form is used only by those who study magic and is a recent creation, based on Arcadian. Dragons do not use the written form and typically refuse to acknowledge its existence.

Finally, there is the hissing language of the saarkiss. Though easily understood by most humanoids, they never seem to be able to get the inflections and sounds just right, and it always comes out sounding as though they were speaking with a pronounced lisp. Saarkiss have similar problems speaking most other tongues (though Draconic comes easily to them). The saarkissan written language is iconic, using symbols representing 36 different sounds instead of individual letters.
Last edited April 22, 2020 9:43 pm
Apr 22, 2020 11:00 pm
On Elves in Jenneria

The origins of the elves are shrouded in mystery, even among themselves. They are also known as the Children of the Stars, though no living elf can say why, exactly. In fact, they are not natives of Jenneria. Though the oldest living elf does not remember it, legends are told of an event known as the Arrival, when the first elves came to this world from the very stars themselves. The stars, according to the legend, are actually distant suns, many with other worlds orbiting them. The elves used vessels to travel among the stars, but one of their vessels became damaged and was forced to land on this strange world. Stranded, the occupants tried to survive as best they could. With time, they adapted to their new life. Some even choose to mingle with the native life on this world, while others remained hidden from the eyes of the inhabitants.

Contrary to popular opinion, the legends are true. The original elves were travelers from another world, stranded here when their vessel was damaged and fell from the heavens. Over the resultant generations, the elves have divided themselves into two separate castes. One has strived to remain separate from the natives of this world. They hid away in secret places and even today, remain a source of legend and rumor. The other, who would become known among their brethren as heathens, mingled with the native races, living among them and even breeding with them. Over time, the resultant mingling of bloodlines has produced the elves that most Jennerians are familiar with.

Mawr
The first caste is that of the mawr, those descended from the first elves to set foot upon Jenneria. In the Olven tongue, mawr means "High Ones," or those who are above others. Few Jennerians ever see the mawr. They keep themselves hidden from the eyes of men, and even from the other races of elves. Superstitions about the mawr abound. The Skåva believe that the mawr (or the elvere in their tongue) are stunningly beautiful, but disease-ridden forest spirits best avoided. Among the Keltoi, mawr are called sidhe, and are other-worldly beings from a distant and magical land. To the Valorans, the fey are a diminutive and shy folk with capricious whims. They have been known to help mortals, but are also said to sometimes steal away children, leaving their own offspring to be raised in their stead.

Physically, the mawr are tall, most top 6 foot, and extremely attractive by human standards. They are also long-lived, with an average lifespan of 1,000 years. They are humanoid, with pointed ears and almond-shaped eyes that are slightly larger than human eyes. They are slender of frame and quite lithe. Their hair ranges from platinum to golden blonde, and their eyes are almost universally ice blue.

Adlawiaid
The adlawiaid are the elves with whom most Jennerians are familiar. The Olven word adlawiaid means "inferior," and pretty accurately sums up the feelings of the mawr towards their brethren. No adlawiaid is ever welcome in a mawr community, even in desperate times. These elves have skin, hair, and eye colors that run the gamut of possibilities found in humans.

AGING
In Jenneria, dwarves live up to 500 years. Elves can be as old as 1,200 years, though most tire of life before then and will themselves to pass. Gnomes are distantly related to elves and live until about age 400, at most. Half-elves can live as long as 550 years, where half-orcs have a very limited lifespan averaging 80 years (though most die before that due to violence). Halflings live to about 110 to 120 years. Humans live to 110 at best. Catfolk (felinians) are relatively short-lived, dying at about age 80. In theory, gearforged can live potentially forever, until their components wear out. Lizardfolk tend to live about 60 to 80 years, on average. The elemental races (ifrits, oreads, sylphs, and undines) all tend to live between 650 and 1,000 years. Then there are the dragons.

The oldest dragon encountered to date was Ancalaxus the Forge, estimated to be 6,000 and several decades when he was defeated, and he still had not reached maximum age (though he was nearly toothless, blind in one eye, and unable to fly). The dragons no doubt know how long they can live, but they aren't telling. Sages estimate some 8,000 years, but it may well be more. Dragons have a disconcerting way of referring to non-draconic races as "mortals," which may be a clue or just arrogance on their part. Orcs and goblinoids tend to live short, brutish lives and most succumb well-before reaching their 75 to 90-year maximum. Kobolds average about 50 years, assuming they don't die due to violence or disease.

That covers most of the races of Jenneria that are reasonably close to humans.

CURRENCY
Jenneria runs on a silver standard, which means that all goods are measured in silver. A silver piece is the same as given in the Player’s Handbook, but coins vary greatly in value depending on where you are and who you are talking to. A merchant from Rashnem would likely be unwilling to accept a Valoran coin at face value, for example, and someone from Kozura would be at a complete loss as to whether it were even a valid form of currency.

Valenor: Valenor (and Darkvale) uses gold lions (worth 10 sp), silver falcons (1 sp), and copper dogs (1/10 sp), as well as a more rare coin, the platinum moon (worth 50 sp).

Keltoi: Keltoi does not produce currency and all trade is conducted through barter, where one chicken is approximately equal to 1 sp, one cow is worth roughly 10 sp, and one egg is worth about 1/5 of a silver piece.

Norvald: Norvald produces three different coins; the electrum sword (20 sp), the silver spear (2 sp), and the iron axe (1/10 sp).

Kozura: Nippon uses a unique form of currency consisting of small disks strung on leather thongs. The brass yuan is the standard and is worth about 1 sp in value. The copper tael is worth slightly less, about 1/5 of a sp. The jade toal, however, is very valuable (and rare), worth 50 sp.

Siriano: The Imperium produces the silver denarius, the gold aurum (worth 25 sp), and the bronze ass (worth 1/10 of a silver piece).

These are but a few of some 28-30 different countries in Jenneria and their currencies.
Apr 23, 2020 12:25 am
For a moment, I read the title of this thread as "Tell me about your hebrew world"...
Apr 23, 2020 6:13 am
kalajel says:
For a moment, I read the title of this thread as "Tell me about your hebrew world"...
I read "Tell me of your homeworld"
https://i.redd.it/z85uspafm7o21.jpg
Jul 11, 2020 8:38 pm
kalajel says:
For a moment, I read the title of this thread as "Tell me about your hebrew world"...
Apparently you left 'OM', the sacred sound and a spiritual symbol of many eastern religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. Out of it, to arrive at it being hebrew. :D
Jul 12, 2020 3:17 pm
https://i.pinimg.com/564x/e8/3b/1c/e83b1ce28b4cbf73ab1f85d37ae57eac.jpg



"Once upon a time Audela saw a terrible war between two pantheons of beings called Great Ones. The destruction that these Great Ones caused was unfathomable and reality began to break apart because of it. It wasn’t until the Veil formed, an inter-dimensional scar, that the Great Ones called for a truce to preserve Audela.

After arduous discussions with the leaders of the pantheons it became clear that they could not share the same dimension anymore. And thus one pantheon stayed in Audela becoming what is now known as the Audelian Bureaucracy; and the other pantheon, the Makers, took their chances past the Veil and into the Void.

When the Makers arrived in Mu’ut, they saw potential; a blank canvas to do as they wished. And so they set forth to fill the void with stars and realms; each as unique as the next. But the war between pantheons is far from over.

To this day the Audelian Bureaucracy continues to meddle with the creations of the Makers. By infecting mortals with their own blood; they created the Hexen, manipulators of Spirit Energy, to destroy the realms from within.

But the realms are not defenseless. By harnessing the powers of the sun and storm, the people of the Zuna-system built technology that rivaled Hexen magic; giving way to an industrial age."

Sun and Storm is a Supernatural, Science-Fantasy setting with Teslapunk Aesthetics that draws inspiration from Treasure Planet, Howl’s Moving Castle, and Spirited Away. The setting features elements like; hidden supernatural societies, lightning-powered golems, zeppelins in space, ghost AI, lightning guns, science vs magic, a thriving radioactive planet...and more.
Mu'ut, the Void plane

The Void plane looks a lot like space but has different physical laws. For example there are animals that live in space; space equivalent of ocean life but more alien looking. Space whales can sometimes be seen diving into a planet's atmosphere much like they do in the oceans for either fun or to hunt for food within the atmosphere. Asteroid belts are a lot like coral reefs and are thriving with live which makes Space mining operations very exciting but dangerous. The further away from a planet, the bigger these animals get; kind of like the ocean layers Sunlight layer = atmosphere layer, Trenches = Deep space.

Planets and stars to do not roam through space, they have fixed coordinates as per design by the Makers. Which also means that the planets do not orbit the sun and neither does the sun orbit around the planets. Moons how ever do orbit. Planets and moons do spin on their axle creating the day/night cycle but the climates and seasons are created by Elementals. Ancient creatures that are crucial to the entire planet's ecosystem. For example a gas planet has a massive amount of air-based elementals while a desert or lava planet has high amounts of fire-based elementals.

The Void Plane is also filled with a substance called Aether. These particles can be manipulated with the aid of magic crystals (who have yet to be named) to create some effects. A void engine for example can manipulate these to propel ships through space. And a ships life support system can manipulate it by create a shield around the ship to contain oxygen and gravity but the shield will not be strong enough to hold off attacks.

Traveling through space can take a long time; the shortest distance between planets can take several weeks or months if everything goes well. In order to increase survivability in the void plane, people build space ports on asteroids for ships to restock supplies, repair, etc...

The Veil

Some say the Aether is evidence that the Veil exists. The Veil is the barrier that separates the dimension Mu'ut from the dimension Audela. The Hexen were the first to know how to cross the Veil by using structures that act as a magical gateway between the two worlds. But the mundane managed to catch up by creating the Veil Piercer, a device that can also penetrate the Veil but also be used to teleport and shorten the travel distance between planets.

Hexen also use magic rituals to penetrate the Veil to summon Familiars and demons from Audela, form a line of communication with the dimension, or to astral project, etc...

Audela, the Spirit World

Audela is still heavy WIP but here's what I have so far.

Audela is a flat plane that consists of various islands in an endless ocean and endless sky. Some islands float on water, some islands float in the clouds. If you dive into the water far enough you will eventually fall out of the sky, and if you keep flying upwards into the heavens you will eventually swim up towards the ocean surface.

The geography of your islands will depend on the ruling Great One of said island. The Great Ones are gods who are so powerful they can alter reality with a thought, and they can make reality be perceived differently by each individual if they so desire. The Gods and Spirits of Audela follow a Hierarchy with the Souls of the deceased at the very bottom and the Audelian Bureaucracy at the very top. Spirits and Gods can rank up by increasing their powers; one such way is through consuming Souls.

When living beings (plants, animals, people, elementals) die their souls return to Audela. This is because when the Makers first created living beings they had to give their bodies a soul in order for it to animate. So they stole spirits from Audela to fill the bodies they created. The Audelian Bureaucracy considered these souls to be tainted hence why they are at the bottom of the hierarchy.

Something else that is unique to Audela; it does not have a Sun only a Moon. Legend goes that the Makers also stole Audela's sun in order to break it into pieces to create the suns in the Void Plane. So the gods of Audela altered the moon and gave it moon phases in order to create a semblance of a day and night cycle. Full moon is considered noon in Audela while a New Moon (black) is considered night. If a mundane person from the Void Plane were to travel to Audela they would describe it as a dull, dark world with no color, no smell, no taste, etc... But a Hexen will always describe it as a magical world that they consider home because of their divine bloodline they are able to see Audela for what it really is.
Hexen

Hexen are created when a God from Audela mates with a mortal from Mu'ut. The god's offspring becomes a Hexen; a mortal being with the powers of a god but greatly limited of course. A Hexen can pass on their magic bloodline to their child. when a Hexen mates with another Hexen then their child will also be a Hexen. But if a Hexen mates with a mortal then there is only 50% chance that their child will be a Hexen. And if the child is not a Hexen then that divine bloodline ends there.

A Hexen's magic is very personal; the power level of a Hexen depends on how healthy they are and how well their stamina is. Hence why a lot of them try to maintain a healthy lifestyle and train their magic regularly. Their magic is also connected to their personality, especially emotions. This created the stereotype that Hexen are coldhearted creatures in the eyes of the Inquisition (Hexen Hunters). But really they are simply trained to keep their emotions in check.

Magical effects and Spells are created by manipulating Spirit Energy; your soul or the soul of others by chipping away at it, throwing the chips and turn it into an effect. If you chip away too much it will result in death. Soul do regenerate over time, this is why Hexen youngsters are taught not to be reckless with their magic.

Magic is categorized in 3 Spheres.
The Sphere of the Spirit are all about spells that manipulate the energy of your own soul or those of others (plants and animals included). These create effects like magic shields or projectiles, telekinesis, astral projection, transferring energy, create spirit fire, etc...
The Sphere of the Ritual are all about spells that require preparation, rituals and ceremonies and communication with Audela. These create effects like Beast Soul (creating werecreatures), transmutation, illusions, summoning rituals, banishment rituals, forming demon/familiar contracts, etc...
The Sphere of Blood is a perverted form that was discovered accidentally keeping a concept in mind; all living things bleed. Just like all living things have a soul (which is what Hexen manipulate) so do all living things bleed. Plants bleed sap, animals and people bleed blood. These create effects like blood healing, blood tracking, blood reading, blood bending, etc...

Races

I haven't decided on races yet but one thing is for sure; Humans do not exist. The closest thing to a human are the Elves. But I plan on dividing my races in Humanoids( human looking), Beastkin (anthro's and humanoids with animal features), Aquatics (living under water or coastal), and Familiars/Demons (playable creatures from Audela)

Technology level

Imagine if the Victorian Era discovered Magic. It has steampunk vibes but instead of cogwheels and steam and polluted skies you have Lightning batteries and Sunglass (glass material that can glow and absorb sunlight). There are also these magic crystals that can manipulate Aether particles as explained earlier. But these crystals are radioactive for mortals but -not- Hexen. This caused Hexen to once become an empire using crystal technology to conquer the Zuna-system (the solar system of the setting) before a disaster befell them that crumbled the empire and the inquisition kicked their butts.

My setting is still heavy WIP but here's a Pinterest board with art inspiration for my setting

https://nl.pinterest.com/vcmelissa88/sun-and-storm-rpg/

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