DEN
Years after The Catastrophe, the world is starting to rebuild itself. The gods still appear to be gone, and magic is…askew, at best, but people are starting to venture off into the wilderness to rebuild again, looking for supplies or for relics they can rescue.
The generally tame landscape of Den has become a lot more dangerous. Creatures and monsters have take over without the interference of people. Old towns and cities are overgrown with new wild flora.
PLACES
A large sandbar that has an everchanging coastline. Extremely dangerous Large beasts roam the island, making exploration difficult, and living on the island near impossible at this point. Not to mention the large fissures that lead into pits of lava — if this is the result of a volcano, it is unsure if it is active or dormant.
The former floating island of Renaissance had fallen into the coastline of Belmere, and people often attempt to reach it to find the libraries and magic items that were once on Renaissance. However, few are heard from again, as the monsters have take up occupancy in the ruins of the island.
People who were originally from Belmere are often recognizable by their bright red hair.
Climate: Hot and Humid with cold nights. Typically fairly windy, and often storms in spring and fall months.
People: Few, if any, people live are know to live on Belmere anymore. People born on the island tend to have bright red hair, normally regardless of if their parents have it or not.
Symbol: A black snake with red eyes, often coiled around a Kris-styled Dagger
A large continent that connects to the Southern Belt. Covered in dense forests. The air in the woods is heavy with magic, and difficult for people to survive in for long periods of time — people that enter into the woods either return shortly after, or do not return at all.
The west coast is mountainous right before the shores, and dotted with extravagent ruins, now overgrown. The coasts themselves have a few smaller towns along the shore where people have rebuilt under the protection of the mountains from the forests.
The eastern coast is nearly constantly stormy, due to a persistent storm that maintains itself off the coast. Often flooded and marshy, and difficult to live in.
Climate: Humid, on the verge of tropical. The western coast is fairly moderate, but rainy. The eastern coast is often troubled by storms.
People: Majority of elves who have lived their for generations.
Symbol: White antlers/White Stag. White and light green
Formerly Northern Bycross, Southern Bycross, and Corwyn. Bywyn is now considered a single continent. The western half covered in desert, often experiencing sand storms from western winds.
The eastern half still similar to the original Bycross — the northern area covered in rolling plains, and the southern area covered in forests, scattered with overgrown ruins.
The capital of Bywyn continues to be the city of Corwyn — which was the capital of the former continent it’s named after. Although it has moved from its original location to somewhere with more hospitable weather. Continues to hold its name as the trade capital of the world, though the frequency of trade has lowered significantly. The largest city standing currently.
Government: A council of 10 elected leaders.
Climate: Windy, though fairly moderate temperatures. Warmer in the south.
People: People of all races, and many people who have had generations that lived in Corwyn.
Symbol: A Chimera, specifically with a wolf, lion, and dragon head. Red, blue, purples.
Once a large island, much of it has gone underwater, and the once dormant volcano has become active once again. Few people live here anymore due to the harsh temperatures.
Climate: Fridged cold most of it, though there are some areas between the ice and the volcano with more moderate temperatures.
Symbol: A boar with curled tusks. Blacks and purples.
An underwater city, built out of coral, sunken ships, sand and rocks. It is the largest Sea-elf city and typically the “home” city for most if not all of them. It is very colorful, covered in gems and tiles, as decorated as the foundation will allow.
It rests on the sea floor in the Dusk Sea, just south of the southern belt.
No much has changed of Fin, but they have closed themselves off physically to newcomers, having build a large wall around the city. They have taken to maintaining their own and keeping supplies as temperatures grow colder in the area.
Government: They have a King, who is mostly a figure at this point. They have a true communistic society, very communal, but they have a harsh law enforcement. People that take advantage of the laws are outcast from the city.
Climate: Cold
Clothing: Very light clothing. Typically wraps around the waist, tighter tank tops if necessary outside the water. Nothing too constricting, and they try to avoid any fins or gills.
People: Aquatic races, though predominantly sea-elves and water genasi.
Symbol: A spear through the water, represented by 3 wavy lines, enclosed in a thick circle.
Large, thick jungles cover the continent, and the shores being mostly marshy areas. Was once the second largest trade city now nearly vacant, as monsters have spread out from Belmere and have also taken residence in Hallow Barrow.
Climate: Wet and tropical
People: Largely elves, dragonborn, catfolk/tabaxi, though few still live there.
Symbol: A panther. A single large jungle leaf. Forest green
The coasts of Highkeep having large expanded leave the mountain cities distant from the rest of the world. Home to a large majority of dwarves and elves, as well as the tallest mountain in the world, Cirrus.
Government: Ruled by a royal family, typically by a queen unless there are no female heirs.
Climate: Very cold and dry. Many of the cities are in the mountains, so low air pressure.
Clothing: Thick clothing. Furs, down. Many layers.
People: Dwarves and elves.
Trade: Metals and gems.
Symbol: A bearded vulture. A sun obscured by a mountain peak. Pink and silver.
A small grouping of islands that was once the hub for pirates, is now one of the more protected areas in the world. Used as safe passage from Bywyn to the Southern Belt, it is protected from large waves and strong winds coming from the ever-present storm to the west by sandbars and landmasses.
Government: Protected by guards of Bywyn, mostly followed military chain of command, reporting to the council of Bywyn. Often seen as just an extension of Bywyn.
Climate: Mostly tropical, but the ice caps to the south remain despite that.
Clothing: Light clothing, brightly colored. Patterned stuff. Jewelry. the more flashy the better
Symbol: A shark, typically scarred. Reds with a stripe of blue.
Once a grouping of islands that banded the equator, now nearly one continuous strip of land. Spotted with towns and cities, mostly used as transportation. A large train route called The Buckle spans its length.
Climate: Ranges from hot and humid, to cold and icey.
Symbol: A stoat and train tracks. Orange and Blues
The drow country, mostly made up of ice and tundra. Their coast has extended farther, but still just are barren. There is one warm oasis where people tend to live, fairly secluded from the rest of the world. Formerly a magic school.
Government: Two twins currently rule over a small community, and plan to pass that on through the family.
Climate: Frigid, dry, bitter.
Clothing: Many layers. Whites and grays, light blues. Leathers and furs
People: Mostly drow, few other races
Symbol: A Sabertooth. Two stars. Dark navy blues and whites.
A strange place of white scenery, with very little bursts of color. Some people claim to have dreams, or that they had slipped in through a portal and later emerged back to this plain. Not much is known about this place, or if it is even real.
GODS
The old gods, creators of the world. They haven’t been seen in a long time. Thought to have either died during [event] or have given up on this world and abandoned it. Some people however still think that they will return.
There were once other gods, people who had attained godhood in their life through power or following, but none have been seen since the disaster. Figured to be dead, or have lost their power, much information of them has been lost or forgotten.
Speis
Neutral
Balance | Foresight | Hard WorkA dark skinned feminine, humanoid figure, long hair in dread. Red eyes, with a third, typically closed, eye on their forehead.
The “Mother Earth” type figure. Noted as the person who physically formed the Earth, but then delegated fleshing out the world to the other Gods as they best saw fit. Generally seen as like. “God.”
Rena
Chaotic Good
Strength | Assertiveness | Change | RebirthA large burnt red dragon with no wings. They have a trail of feathers along their back and make the appearance of flames.
Lives deep in dormant volcanoes. Known to take care of deserts and islands, keeping enough land in the world for the population.
Flux
Neutral Good
Flow | Acceptance | Inquisitiveness | SharingA deep blue whale shark, its fins and tail seeming to fade into the water. They are covered with seaweed and algae.
Lives deep in the ocean and is rarely seen above the water. Known to take care of the tides and all the sea life.
Ona
Neutral
Status | Honor | Order | IntellectA light yellow-golden bird with the legs and neck of a Heron, but most physical appearance of a swan. They have a large wingspan.
Rarely seen. Known to manage the winds and all the life that has flight.
Hava
Neutral Good
Protection | Nature | Preservation | CommunityAn overly large stag, its antlers making up the appearance of tree branches. A layer of moss, grass, and flowers cover their back.
Lives deep in forests. Known to take care of plant life, covering the world with greenery.
BRIEF TIMELINE
this is pretty lose and brief and im sure other things happen too but,
This period includes the creation of the world.
Speis created the world and her four companions — Ona, Hava, Flux, and Rena. Together, they created all the races that inhabit the world in likenesses of themselves. Once things were set, Speis decided to take a more-mortal form and walk the world to see everything from the peoples’ perspective.
Things were plenty peaceful for a while, but the Companions started to fight amongst themselves. Because of this, the people also started to get into squabbles against each other. Normally, this only consisted of which magic was better, who had what land, who had the best patron god. Things like that.
This infighting was considered the “Spirit War” and while there were never any official armies or battles, there was still a lot of aggression and people started splitting up into factions and groupings.
Speis left the companions for a while to take care of it between themselves, but when that failed, they had to step in.
With Speis’ help, they got the companions to agree to withdrawl from the world as a present being, and instead view from the sidelines as the physical qualities of the world; Rena to the volcanos, Flux to deep in the ocean, Ona above the clouds, and Hava deep within the woods.
Once the Spirits retreated from being present gods, the world really started to flourish. People built their own communities around the world, started learning new magic and started to really explore their environments.
During this time, Asa, the first of the current pantheon, rose to godhood.
However, toward the end of this time, there was a great drought that effected nearly all of the world. People aren’t sure of what the cause really was of this, and what happened to Flux to allow this sort of thing to happen.
- Due to the drought, Westpine, what is currently Black Oak, suffered a fire that nearly wiped out the whole island.
A small fire started due to a cult in the area trying to summon the likeness of Rena to gain power. This magical fire spread quickly, and the condition of the area made it impossible to manage. The fire raged for over 100 years, and is said to have been stopped by Hava themselves.
Due to this mismanagement of magic, a lot of the world’s knowledge was locked away. The keepers of knowledge, who generally follow Ona, retreated to some of the floating islands that were unreachable without flight, taking any written magic and history that they could with them.
This was the official start of the Gray Era.
Over time, this loss of written knowledge started to really effect the rest of the world. Eventually, the only magic that was left was natural, innate magic.
People started focusing more on developing cities and towns. Countries built up the governments, and started focusing a little more internally rather than outwardly toward the whole world. Unfortunately, this lead to countries building their defenses, armies, and started fighting between themselves.
- Bycross begins to have some internal conflict
- Elves on the western coasts of Black Oak move to the mountains to disconnect from others and try to maintain what magic knowledge they have themselves.
- What is now the Red Isles begins to form.
- Corwyn’s capital, Forene, becomes a “trade capital”, and they form a high council there.
- Juneberry rises to god status
- North and South Bycross start a war between themselves and split.
- With Flint leading, the Red Isles split from South Bycross
- Flint rises to God status
- On the islands where the knowledge is being kept, Catalen rises to God status.
With Catalen rising in power, she pushes for knowledge to be released back to the public. Meetings are held with city leaders to form new libraries and colleges to help teach people about everything that had been hidden from them for so long.
While this does lead to some people abusing this knowledge again, there are now people better equipped to stop those people.
In Corwyn, a cult commanded by some liches attack. Sun and Helena rise to fight against them and protect the city and its people, and in doing so rise to God Status.
Elsewhere, Kale and Raddic rise to God Status with their small followings. (unrelated).
The world Flourishes for a long time — With the magical knowledge back in the publics hands, things develop quickly into a more modern/urban like world. Technology is developed to house magical spells in useful ways, without having to cast spells personally.(phones, computers, etc) Magically power vehicles are made, and roadways from cities are paved.
While of course there are conflicts among nations and infighting, things are otherwise going pretty great actually.
The same cult that started the 100 year fire in Black Oak returned. The leader, Arian Tarikat — the same man from before, attempted a similar thing as before. To raise the likeness of the old gods to be in his favor.
This time he was successful, to an extent. While he was able to conjure the presumable powers of the gods into makeshift bodies, he failed to control that power. These four uncontrollable entities of magic began to run rampant, both destroying things through physical and magical means, but also by just drawing in energy of the world and consuming it.
While these powers were ultimately defeated, each caused an explosion of magic to radiate from their death, further crippling the surrounding areas. The worst hit being in Belmere.
A darker time. Magic is chaotic at best, and extremely unbalanced, and a lot of land is thick with a sick magic, making it hard to live in those areas. Things held together with magic — cities and technology especially — fall apart. People who were able to cast magic before suddenly unable to.
Many people were lost during The Catastrophe, and people are just looking to pick themselves off the ground.
The landscape of the world is changed drastically — the ice around Highkeep and Snowhold expanded, sea levels lowered revealing new land and connecting lands together. The fighting itself leaving scars in the landscape.
Gods are non-existent.
Current time.
Things have started to clear and become liveable again. People have started to build new communities and rebuild old connections. With the Southern Belt becoming nearly one strip of land, people build a railroad to easily access other parts of the world in safety.