Game is in a few hours! Hope to see everyone there.
Instead of sending files to everyone, here is the setting’s info:
And the map: ImageShack - Best place for all of your image hosting and image sharing needs
[spoiler]The Northern Continent: Filbernan
This continent is by far the largest in the world. The continent is divided into three kingdoms: Schale, Frieren, and the Namara Union.
Frieren is a human kingdom that runs along the northern edge of the continent, and is heavily influenced by the Orcish raiders who come from the archipelago in the Northern Waters. The kingdom is made up of a few small, heavily fortified stone cities, with numerous villages in between. Constant snow covers the ground in much of the land. For many years, Frieren was ruled by a human Jarl, and still has a large human majority. Thirty years ago, however, Jarl Walrag married an Orcish woman, who gave birth to a son. Following a brief civil war, Jarl Walrag declared the half-Orc his heir, and established Orcs as equal citizens. Since then, Jarl Oklaf, the half-Orc, took power. Frieren is the only kingdom to recognize Orcs as equal to humans. Since Oklaf was declared heir, many nobles brought their previously-illegitimate half-orc sons back to their courts, in order to win favor. Today, four of the cities are ruled by half-orc governers, and one other has a half-orc as the direct sucessor.
The Schale Confederation is the largest and most powerful kingdom in Filbernan. The city is ruled by King Henrik Dragonslayer, a wise and old warrior who earned his title four separate times. Schale is made up of eight independent city-states, of which the capital is most powerful. All but the weakest of the cities, however, is more than strong enough to hold its own against the other armies on the continent. Schale controls the fertile central area of the continent, along with the mountains in the center, where most of the ore on the continent comes from.
The Namara Union is the smallest country on the continent. It is made of three Dwarven Underhalls, and doesn't include the land between them. Unlike the other two nations, The Union elects its leader, known as the Undermaster, who then rules for life, or until impeached. The Council of Elders, a council of one hundred dwarves who are also elected by the citizens, has the power to impeach the Undermaster. This is very rare, however, and has only happened once in recorded history.
There are other minor independent city-states, but the three main kingdoms are the only ones with any real power.
The Eastern Continent
The eastern continent is nearly completely unknown. It is ruled by Elves and Drow, but no one from any of the other continents has ever gone there and back. The elves keep their continent sealed away, as they believe themselves to be far superior to the other races.
Trade with the Eastern Continent is handled from a large port city (named Chiran) on a small island halfway through Filbernan and the Eastern continent, which is under control of the elves. The elves sell spices, silk, and other luxury goods, while the Central Continent sells weapons and other metallic goods, which the elves cannot produce themselves.
The Eastern Continent has no proper name in Common, since its Elven name is unpronounceable.
The Northern Sea
North of Filbernan, the ocean is always cold and stormy. In these dangerous seas, a series of islands make up the homeland of the Orcs. The climate is far too cold for large-scale agriculture, so Orcs depend mostly on fishing and hunting for food, along with whatever they bring back from their raids on Filbernan's coastal settlements. While many Orcs have settled down for civilized lives in Frieren, many other continue sailing their longships on their deadly raids.
Traditional Orcish helmets have a pair of twisted, ram-like horns on them. This leads many people from the southern regions of Filbernan, where the only orcs seen are the occasional raiding party, to believe that orcs naturally have horns growing out of their heads.
The Southern Continent (Daerom)
Daerom is a large desert continent, which lies south of Filbernan. Most of it is inhospitable and empty, except for various wandering herds of animals, and the humanoids who follow them. The only real civilization is the Mitzram Empire, in the fertile Kilus Valley, which lies along the Kilus River that flows from the mountains in the south of the continent to the ocean to the north.
The Mitzram Empire, along with about three fourths of the humanoids who live in this land, is made up of reptilian humanoids. The desert that makes up the rest of the continent, along with the jungle farther to the south, is filled with herds of dinosaurs, who wander from oasis to oasis. The Mitzram Empire is made up of about 50% Lizardfolk, 30% Troglodytes, and 20% Yuan-Ti. The Yuan-Ti make up the clergy and ruler classes. The empire is ruled by a Yuan-Ti Pharaoh, who claims to be a god-king. Dead pharaohs are buried in huge pyramids, which the reptiles build using their domesticated dinosaurs.
The reptilian rulers of Daerom view non-reptilian humanoids with disdain. Until about fifty years ago, they enslaved and even fed on such humanoids, but recently, they adopted a policy that gave humanoids rudimentary rights, although not full citizenship.
Dragons originally hail from Daerom, although in the years that have passed dragon species have adapted to every type of environment.
The Western Continent (Bayet)
Not much is known of Bayet, the Western continent, except that it is the original homeland of humans. Some calamity must have destroyed the civilization that originated in Bayet, as no known sentient race currently occupies it. Ancient human ruins that dwarf even the most amazing of modern human architecture, however, dot the landscape. Bayet's temperate landscape is inhabited by powerful monsters, from dragons to chimeras to hydras, so expeditions there are considered dangerous.
Religion and the Planes
The cosmology of this setting is the standard d&d cosmology, as detailed in the Planar Handbook. Religion, however, is quite different.
The world is divided between four five pantheons, each of whom controls a certain area of the world. Pantheons can grant spells to followers who are outside of the pantheon's area of power, but certain spells (Most notably Miracle, Commune, and the various Raise Dead spells) do not work. In addition, Divine Casters outside of their native lands must take an extra hour when resting in order to prepare spells, as they must build an altar to their patrons in order to bring temporarily bring a small area into their patron's sphere of influence.
The islands in the Northern Sea are the domain of the Asgardian Pantheon, followed by the Orcs. In fact, as Orcs migrated south and integrated into Frieren, that area of Filbernan became Asgardian ground.
Daerom, the Southern Continent, is the domain of the Pharaohnic Pantheon, of which the empire's king is part. Along with the Pharohnic dieties, a few other dieties have power. These “outcast” deities are only worshiped by the “softskins”, however; the reptilian majority of Daerom follows the Pantheon. Those who worship the “outcast” deities must do so in secret, as the reptilians abhor these deities.
Bayet, the cradle of human civilization, seems to have no gods. In fact, divine spellcasting is nearly impossible there; in order to cast a spell, a cleric must succeed on a DC 10+Spell Level Caster Level check. For example, if a Cleric tries to cast Cure Moderate Wounds, he must succeed on a DC 12 Caster Level check; if he tries to cast Summon Monster V, the DC is 15. In addition, spell resistance is harder to overcome when using divine spells (+5 to spell resistance) and divine casters must rest for three extra hours in order to prepare spells. It is rumored that Bayet has its own pantheon, but whether the pantheon was destroyed, simply forgotten, or if the rumor is complete rubbish is unknown.
The Eastern Continent has its own pantheon of 12 gods, who are the 12 Chinese calender animals. Little is known about these gods, as the elves are very distrustful of outsiders. However, it is known that elves do not have trouble casting divine spells on the central continent.
Filbernan is different from the Southern or Northern continents. In the North, the only native civilization is that of the Orcs, so a unified pantheon exists. In the South, the reptilians have always served their pantheon, and are very intolerant of other religions or misinterpretation of their own religion. As a result, the pantheons are very unified and solid. Filbernan, on the other hand, is filled with hundreds of separate nations and ethnic groups, each of whom worships their own gods in their own way. As a result, the Central Continent has no unified pantheon, and has many times as many deities as the other pantheons. It is likely that many of these deities are, in fact, simply different aspects of the same god; but as long as these gods grant spells to clerics who worship them in any of their forms, it is impossible to know for certain exactly how many gods exist on the Central Continent.
[/spoiler]
I just woke up 
How’d it go?
Still playing! Right now they’re on top of a rock, fending off wild dogs.
Sweet! PM me the Skype information and maybe I’ll drop by~
Bump:
I was figuring that it might be neat if the players all post their char’s backstory in this thread so that we can link to it from the campaign thread to give a dramatis personae.
Good idea. Also, the party has 5 players now… A 6th is my limit. So if you want to play D&D, now’s your last chance!
Just for reference, we have chars which provide:
-Healing and mild tanking
-Limited magic and amazing minion/meatshield ability
-Thieftyness and some combat
-Moderate DPS
-Druidy druidity
We could use megatanking, full-range spellcasting from a wizard, megaDPS.
Paladins will be stabbed on sight. Survivors will be stabbed again.
Paladins have a d10 hit die. They can handle being stabbed twice.
…
I kinda winged it, but here’s the Tale of Jenks. Maybe.
In the beginning, there was Jenks.
Well, at least that’s what he can recall. He simply was always there, and could not remember a time when he wasn’t there. That doesn’t mean there wasn’t time before he was there. He just can’t recall that time- well actually, that’s not true. Jenks DOES recall quite a bit of time before, having spent years pouring through the various texts, tomes, and even the occasional pamphlets and brochures. As long as it had words, it had the potential for new knowledge. And that’s what interested Jenks ever since he COULD recall.
The towers were musty, dry places filled with the sounds of the outside world bustling about- however, ever since Jenks was a young boy, he only saw the outside world through the windows up high- looking out at the distant tiny people working in the fields, walking about the markets, and visiting the Wizards and priests in the Town. Jenks however was different- as per his own recollections. He was chosen for something greater. He cannot recall WHEN he was chosen, merely that since he could recall, he had always been living at the University, more specifically in the Arcane Towers- but not as a child prodigy sorcerer or an apprentice wizard, Oh no, heavens no!
Jenks was just Jenks- the apprentice to the librarian of the University there. Or the bookboy as he was known for the first 15 or so years of his recollection. The Librarian was a kindly man, who likely instilled and then forged Jenk’s love of knowledge by exposing him to the world of books, and then training him in the power of knowing that which has been passed down from countless others in the past.
The Librarian taught Jenks well about the ways of the world… as it applied from the Way of the Words.
Wizards, you see, are a showy lot, spending hours pouring over their magics and practicing that which they already know in order to perfect it. This self-imposed exile, while respectable, was foolhardy- why should one constantly train and focus on that which they already know? What was the point in that? And those foolish Clerics and druids with their own prayers and magics. Again, they were tied down with their Gods, and their herectics, and their forbidden knowledge! The Gods were a fickle bunch- each with their own areas of specialty, and forbidding another’s works for being heretical and bad. If one simply read enough of the various volumes, one could see the intertwining webs between them all, and the similarities these so called “holy books” that each shared were filled with common archetypes and tropes if you will. Why would such foolishly “divine” beings focus on the differences between one another and worst of all, censuring knowledge from your own followers? Much easier simply to ignore the whole lot of them, and be unrestricted in one’s quests.
And don’t even get the Librarian started on the foolish peons- the townspeople- many of whom could not even read to save a penny on their life! They simply shuffled past the most powerful rooms in the towers on their way to visit whichever wizard or magic user they needed rather than try to empower themselves, and spend a few hours READING about why their crops were dying off and why if they had only read the written the collected works of the great horticultural wizard St. Frondel the Diviner (also known as “Crazy Farmer 'Del”) they would have realized that 145 years ago, Frondel had predicted that the likely over-usage of wizarding arcane spells from the nearby University would likely have an adverse effect on the crops in the future, and likely decrease the rainfall in the area, unless better irrigation systems or more water based spells were used to help out!
But nooo!
No one cares about such things when they can just pray to the local Cleric (and pay the necessary gold) to have a nice “summon water” or a “thunderstorm” and solve their temporary issues. Pathetic.
Now where was I? Oh yes. The Tale of Jenks the Bookboy. Who no longer was a bookboy, but became Jenks the Future Book-Keeper. Because “Librarian” was already taken by his Master. And it seemed that everyone always had to add an extra emphasis to the word- as if saying it while thinking of stale cheese, rather than referencing a higher being, a bringer of knowledge, preserver of the written words, and all-around generally useful person of note.
Jenks continued his studies as a man, discovering the works of not only wizards, but finding books written by knowledgeable Archivists, taking down the words of the great bards- those who had explored the lands, tied down to a God occasionally, but also had experienced battles, found lost treasures, rescued damsels in distress, discovered new fascinating creatures and magic, and then promptly had recorded their deeds with the help of local Archivist found in the nearest Government office or Library.
These were the tales that thrilled Jenks the older and more-recently-recollecting self: “Adventure, Excitement, a * Librarian* craved not such things”, but rather… the deeds and the knowledge gained by writing down these tales is where true value lies. They were detailed in their notes, and added addendums and footnotes to the Bard’s Tales, of their own studies, readings, and collections. It seems not many people tend to read the Footnotes and the Appendixes of these Tales of Adventure- but within them one could find the proper explanations of creature anatomy, religious comparisons and references to other sources, and of course likely mechanisms and methods of spell casting. These footnotes were the TRUE treasures of the Tales of Wise Sir Jarl or Dragonslayer III, widely viewed as the most thrilling of the four *Henrik Dragonslayer *tales, however IV was more accessible to the masses, but much had been learned since the first tale, so the art was perfected, and the Bards already knew how to fancy up the language. But the footnotes of such Tomes, they explained many a creatures found during these adventures- how Haelmut the Bard told of thrilling quests in the icy fjords in the North of Filbernan versus terrifying horned Orcish Vikings and enthralled many with his famous songs about these deadly and awe-inspiring battles.
However, if one read the Footnotes of Varicose the Archivist, one would note that the Orcs likely were not horned, but rather wearing Traditional Orcish helmets, which have a pair of twisted, ram-like horns on them as a phallic symbol of masculinity and power. And this can be cross-referenced in the collected historical works of Badhor, the Archivist to King Walrag- who certainly would have included in his documentations if the good King had bedded any Truly-Horny Orcish women.
But the liberties taken by a Bard, screaming out his words and hacking and slashing as he sings his tale always wins out over the tiny numerical footnotes to a cross-referenced citation placed by a careful Archivist.
Such was to be the fate of Jenks the Archivist. To train for years, pouring over these words, knowing how to cast the spells of clerics and druids properly without the unnecessary “faith” and religious Dogma; how to defeat amazing creatures simply by targeting it’s weak spot rather than making a sappy speech about Valor and Honor and some inevitable Princess- (just shoot the damn thing in the knee! or Kill it with Fire!), and yet… Jenks would be the one forced to listen to these foolish “Adventurers” naming unexplored lands, magics, and creatures after their bumbling selves, while Jenks would be forced to look up the descriptions and note that actually, these creature were merely a blue undead variant of a race of previously known wolves, and not “DarkMagic Faye Wolves” as the adventurer would surely go on to spread.
:sigh:
Excitement. Adventure. An Librarian craves not these things. But Jenks was no Librarian. He was an Archivist, dammit! And Human Life is TOO short to simply sit and write about the great deeds of others. Sure it pays well, and it’s always close to the familiar musty smells of a Library. But there’s only so much a man can take being alone! Why can’t he be the one to discover something new? Why could something be called the JENKS-WOLF? Why can’t he find his own companion to serve him on his Quest- to find the greatest treasures of all- to seek Knowledge in all its forms, and to eventually be known as the greatest mind to step out of the hallowed Halls of the University. Damn the Wizards, sorcerers, and even the petty Gods themselves.
Jenks University would be far greater than “The University”- he would be the one of force them to change their names, and recognize that their greatest scholar was not just found in their annual records, but under the Footnote 8B, subsection 2 of the Appendix:
Known Bookboys under the service of the Library:
(1) Jenks.
And so on his 33rd Birthday, Jenks made up his mind to write his own Tales. To be no longer the Ghostwriter, but instead the Protagonist in his own Life Journey.
Jenks was destined for greatness, and all that other flourishy stuff that the Bards add in to make him sound better. Really, Jenks was going to have to hire a bard to tell this tale. But then Jenks would record it down! And he wouldn’t NEED footnotes, Dammit!
The wise and far-seeing, (and quite dashing) Librarian merely tutted when Jenks, almost like a son to him, the small child whom he himself had groomed for his own position since nearly the start- when he had found the boy outside of the halls of the school. The Librarian held back his tears, and allowed his pride to mask his heart, as he hugged his apprentice- and gave him his savings.
And so begins our Tale of Young Jenks. Armed with a whip found laying about in the Stables, having written down his life goals into his journals, and using the last of the Librarian’s Savings to arm himself with the most practical of equipment. Jenks packed up his “Prayer Book” (so as not to offend the more pious) and started on his course for greatness by leaving the University behind him!
This old Librarian smiled and merely ordered more parchment and ink… as well as making a reminder to himself: he was going to have to have to find someone to listen to the Bards at the tavern more closely.
Surely, there would be intricately and highly detailed explanations Tales of a lanky new hero’s of thrilling adventures, discoveries, and follies amongst the incoming Bards sooner than later…
Shoot him in the Knee!
So he can get a job as a guard!
I really enjoyed your story, by the way. At least someone read the campaign setting background!
Of course the **Archivist **read the background! 
True dat.
If, during gaming, you get an idea to insert a “pop culture” reference, you may do so, as long as it won’t have an impact on the plot, and I’ll probably retcon it so it’s true. It helps flesh out the world.
Yeah, I have a tendency to do that, but I mostly like using quotes or such rather than explicit things. It’s easier just to quote Jedis or Skyrim rather than try to introduce “Lord Vader the Orc”.
That’s too much, but lil’ one liners and lyrics I tend to naturally do that as well. But I’ll keep the offer in mind.
Though if i create a JenksWolf I’ll be pleased.
Here are the allusions in my backstory at least the less obvious ones).
- St. Frondel the Diviner (“Crazy Farmer 'Del”)- Just wanted to make a “Farmer in the Dell” line.
-Plus, I like the idea of a Divination Specializing Horticultural Wizard. - Tales of Wise Sir Jarl- from your Backstory
- The Henrik DragonSlayer Chronicles (I-IV): Backstory, but the I-IV are references to LedZep’s Albums I-IV (though I’d probably I is the best of them, but IV is the one that blew them up).
- Haelmut the Bard- No clue. Just started with Hae and figured where to go from there? Helmut makes me laugh. So that’s what finished it. But I’ll pretend Helmut Lang- because that name makes me laugh. Fjords had to be mentioned. And the Horny Orc Puns.
- Varicose the Archivist- Just named after Varicose Veins. Medical Terminology. And a side effect of just sitting all day in a room and letting your feet swell up.
- Badhor the Archivist for King Walrag- (-_-) This one I just wanted to put in BadHorse [from Dr. Horrible], but that didn’t fit the Medieval theme. So I just cut off a few letters. I pronounce it “Bad Whore”, but he probably prefers “Bade-or”. Too bad.
- DarkMagic Faye Wolves- Reference to PennyArcade/PVP’s D&D Podcasts. Mike K’s character is an awesome Wizard: “Jim DarkMagic the III of the New HampShire DarkMagics”. Had to reference it somehow.
But yeah- in case you wanted those for fleshing out your world. (-_-)
If we actually run into a Darkmagic Faye Wolf, I’ll be amused. Or finding ancient texts of Badhor!
-Amusingly, it’d fit Jenks’ character to want to go to the West. Perhaps just to see and meet the Old Gods. Maybe he could find something to believe in over there? Or a God of Knowledge or such. :shrug: I did like the Librarian’s Rant about Wizards/Clerics to sum up Jenks’ view on the other Arts.
Heh, it’s funny because King Henrik the Dragonslayer did, in fact, kill four dragons. So I guess a tale was written about each one!
Hey, I got the Elven continent right. Eh, eh?
Natch. I figured it’d work out pretty well since I saw your line about him doing so 4x- that came first, then the realization that if I called it IV, i could joke about Led Zep.
ALMOST came |–| this close to making a pun/reference to “Immigrant songs” as the name of the Viking Orc Tale by Haelmut, but figured that’d be too much/too obvious.