This is a setting primer for the World in which you find yourselves. While it is highly recommended you read the entire thread to learn as much as your character would generally know, it is really only necessary to read the first two sections. The rest can either be perused at your leisure or ignored completely, player's choice.

Section 1 - Setting: The Basics
Section 2 - 10 Facts about Carcossia
Section 3 - A Brief History
Section 4 - Races of Carcossia
Section 5 - Classes of Carcossia
Section 6 - Geography
          Section 6.1 - Other Regions
Section 7 - Other Realms
Section 8 - NPC's and Notable Figures
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:01, Mon 24 May 2021.

THE CIVILIZED WORLD
The civilized world (in Idrimore this is everything East of the Dragon Peaks) is in the midst of an industrial revolution. New machines, new power sources, and new ways of organizing work have made existing industries more productive and efficient, providing lavish and luxury for any who can afford it. Clothing is now made in large textile factories rather than hand stitched, iron and steel are smelted on an industrial scale to send back East to the military factories of the Empire, while philosophers and inventors search for the latest cutting edge discoveries to feed the Empire’s hunger for “The Great March of Civilization”.


THE AGE OF ADVENTURE!
A recent fad among the wealthy of the civilized world has led to the gloriication of the term “Adventurer.” Many a wealthy rake have spent hundreds of thousands of Gold Crowns to fund expeditions to the farthest corners of the world, seeking discovery and adventure, and those brave souls who are on these expeditions are granted a measure of fame and notoriety. Assuming of course, that they return alive.


REFUGEE ELVES
When the Elves returned half a century ago they found themselves in a very different world than the one they had led. Their ancestral lands overrun with a human kingdoms that refused to vacate, and instead possessed enough military might to oppress the returning kin. Now refugees upon the island of Mar'Edhel, the Elves squat among the ancient ruins of their own peoples, refugees from an unknown land. Conditions within these camps are abhorrent. There is little food, fresh water, or hygiene and young elves are desperate to escape lives of oppression and abuse. Luckily, both the Principality and the Holy Empire are willing to accept small numbers of refugees annually. Criminal organizations however are willing to import countless "undocumented" elves for the right price.


RISING TENSIONS
Having little to return to other than poverty and squalor, elves have gained a reputation for being willing to do any work for any pay. This has lead to a boom in the use of Elven labor. Thousands of Elves are hired for mere Copper Coronets a day (roughly a 10th of the average daily labor wage) to do dirty and dangerous work. Workers displaced by cheap elf labor have formed unions while their cries for change and legislation to protect their livelihoods have apparently fallen on deaf ears among the greedy nobility and corrupt government officials. Likewise, Elves who are just trying to survive in a world that doesn't want them, tend to keep to themselves stuffed into small Elven Districts that are rife with crime, drugs, prostitution, and gang violence.

COSMIC HORROR INFLUENCES
The realm of Carcossia is a Dark Fantasy, Gothic setting. It includes things like Vampires, Werewolves, Demons, Fear, Madness, and a number of other traits common to Gothic Horror. The setting takes influences from sources such as: Game of Thrones, Bram Stoker's Dracula, the works of HP Lovecraft and other Mythos authors, Castlevania, The Witcher (games) by CD Projekt Red, and the Innistrad setting from Magic the Gathering.


POINTS OF LIGHT
You play as heroes in a world that desperately needs heroes. The world is a dark place and humanity (all sentient races) are beset on all sides by monsters who want to prey on them. Vampires who see them as food, werewolves that must feed their unending bloodlust, hordes of undead who wish to add to their numbers. There are a million ways to die, but you are a light in the darkness. Someone who stands up to the malevolence and shines as a beacon of hope to the common man.


SOCIETAL INEQUALITY
Society is broken into two castes: Nobles and Commoners. Nobles rule through their houses and bannermen, command militias, and spend the vast majority of their considerable free time hob-knobbing with other nobles. Commoners toil, and work, and die. The gap between the wealthy and the poor is enormous and only growing. The nobility look down on the common folk and the common folk are so downtrodden, and that's before you take into account the monsters trying to eat them, that they have lost all will to fight back against this system.


THE KING IN YELLOW
An ancient, evil sorcerer who raised an army of demons, orcs, and undead to terrorize the world. He had a particular hatred for the elves, but his hoards killed, raped, and pillaged indiscriminately, nearly decimating several kingdoms in their wake. Though ultimately defeated, the King in Yellow could not be killed and was instead imprisoned in his fortress of Gallowspire. Soon after, Gallowspire vanished. Fearing his return, many Elves took it upon themselves to teach the races magic, that they might better defend themselves.


BLIGHTS
The fortress of Gallowspire vanishes and reappears at seemingly random intervals and in seemingly random locations. When it does, hordes of demons and undead are unleashed on the unsuspecting countryside. These blights are terrible, hundreds are slaughtered and the land is decimated. There have been three blights throughout history. The last blight was more than a century ago. None but the oldest citizens of Carcossia remember the last blight.


THE ELVES FLED THE WORLD
During the second Blight, The King in Yellow focused the full force of his legions onto the Elven Nation and over the course of nearly a decade, the hordes pushed the elves into the Copper Sea, forcing them to retreat to their stronghold, Tower Evermoon upon the Isle of Mar'Edhel. On the Isle an alliance of Elves and Wardens mounted a massive counteroffensive to buy the majority of their race time to escape through ancient elven portals to no one knows where. Only in the last 50 years have the elves begun to return… and they have no memory of where they were during the interim.


MONSTERS ARE COMMON AND VERY DANGEROUS
Monsters have always existed, but they were uncommon. During the Blights, the natural area surrounding Gollowspire is infused with dark energy and monster populations in the area seem to explode, leaving humanity to deal with this legacy well after Gallowspire has once again vanished into the aether. Even after a hundred years, monsters from the last Blight still roam the world in droves.


TOWNS ARE SAFE, THE WILDS ARE NOT
Cities and towns generally have walls and standing militias, even the smallest hamlets can muster a dozen or so armed men to respond to threats. But the further you get from civilizations the more dangerous the world gets. Getting lost, getting waylaid by bandits, and getting attacked by monsters are all real threats the further you get from civilization.


WARDENS
The Wardens began life as an order of knights who forsook their oaths to their noble lords and joined together under the banner of House Markov to face the threat of the Blight head on. During the first Blight they counted ten thousand men among their ranks. In the wake of that victory they became legion, easily growing to more than two-hundred thousand members. During the second Blight their numbers were decimated while lending their aid to the last stand of the elves. The third Blight took a heavy toll, leaving only a few thousand Wardens. In the intervening century the third Blight has become a myth, a scary story to tell around the hearth, and the Wardens have shrunk in number, in no small part to their task of hunting down monsters and protecting civilization; quite the dangerous line of work.


MAGIC IS ACCEPTED, BUT OFTEN FEARED
Since the rise of the King in Yellow, magic has been looked upon with unease by many. And the further you get from civilization the more that unease turns to fear, and that fear can easily turn to violence. Most peasants and farmers are uneducated and superstitious. In the wake of the blights many communities turned on their local magicians, witches, and soothsayers; not realizing these were the people who tended their sick and looked after their communities in ways no one else could. In major cities magic is openly taught and practiced.

THE AGE OF DARKNESS
In the beginning there were only the Elves. They spent their days lounging and wanting for nothing, for they possessed the incredible power of Magic. There was no hunger, no strife, no war… no death.

But then the Star Spawn came.

Hailing from somewhere beyond the void they travelled between the stars, seeking out realm after realm to lay waste to in the name of their Elder Gods. Countless realms had fallen to them when they arrived aboard their vast, nautiloid colonies, corrals packed to the brim with food-slaves. The Star Spawn had encountered and conquered countless worlds and peoples before their arrival on Carcossia… but never before had they encountered such destructive power as that which the Elves brought to bear against them with their command of Magic.

The war between the Star Spawn and the Elves raged for eons. Finally, the Elves rebuffed the Star Spawn invasion, routing the tentacled horrors back into the vast void between the stars. They fled en masse, abandoning countless colonies and millions of slaves to the cruelty of freedom after millennia of enslavement.


THE AGE OF GROWTH
Slowly these freed peoples spread themselves beneath the watch of the Elves, who saw them as little more than unpalatable cattle left behind by a routed army, barbarians that would turn on each other and war and fight amongst themselves to their extinction.

And they did war and they did fight, but in the time between conflicts they grew and multiplied, and they learned and evolved. The various creatures became separate and distinct. The Dwarves burrowed beneath the Earth. The Dragon-men fled into the sun-scorched desert. The Humans spread and multiplied, taking as their own slaves the diminutive Halflings. The Orcs spread into the hills and mountains. The Gnomes took to the sea. And they all left the Elves be, so the Elves left the races to themselves while they focused their collective attention on a far more imperative task; the construction of powerful Mythal magics. A shield to hide their realm from the view of the Star Spawn and their blasphemous Elder Gods, ensuring their foes could never return.

Over thousands of years the invasive races of Carcossia gave birth to their own unique cultures and histories. They began to settle, build, and explore. And in their explorations they discovered the Elves and beheld the wonders of the Elves’ creations; their vast cities, their endless fields, their lack of war and death.

Fearful that these young, and prone to war, races would employ the power of Magic to wreak havoc among themselves and upon the realm of Carcossia the Elves hoarded the knowledge of magic as greedily as one might their deepest, darkest secret. They shared with the races the methods of farming and domestication of animals, techniques of stone masonry, mining, building, and creating.


THE FIRST BLIGHT
Despising the greed and self-righteousness of his own people, one of the Elves; Hastordur, reached for knowledge from beyond the void. And he was granted only madness. Learning of his betrayal, Hastodur was cast out by the Elves, stripped of his innate magics. But in his studies beyond the darkness he had learned a darker, terrifying sorcery… the magic over life and death.

And thus The King in Yellow was born… and his hell was unleashed upon the world.

Hastordur employed his new found knowledge, plunging the depths of death, and feeding into it the power of undeath. Untold ranks of undead rose from the earth and waged bloody war on the living. Reinforced by powerful summoned demons and hordes of Orcs forced into servitude, Hastordur's legions marched across the Realm and lay waste to all that stood before him. For nearly a century the King in Yellow devastated the people of Carcossia.

A small cadre of powerful heroes rose among humanity, led by the Paladin Pelor Ironheart, this Grey Company marched into the heart of the Hastordur's sanctuary, the tower of Gallowspire and cut the powerful mage down in the heart of his power. It is said, that it was at that moment Pelor Ironheart ascended to Sainthood.


THE SECOND BLIGHT
Less than 50 years after his apparent defeat at the hands of St. Pelor, Hastordur returned. Undenounced to his enemies, the King in Yellow had been granted the power of Lichdom by his maddened knowledge of dark magics. With his return he once again set to destroy all, but with a clearer plan. His first act was to drive the elves from the world. This is known as the Day of Blood. With a combined effort of Elves and the Wardens, an organization newly formed under the banner of House Markov, the Hordes were held back until the majority of the Elves were able to flee.

Learning that his old foe had risen and once again threatened all mortal beings, the living Saint; Pelor the Valiant returned to Gallowspire intent on ending the threat of the King in Yellow once and for all. The pair of titans met in single combat. In the end, knowing Hastordur could not be truly killed, St. Pelor dealt the creature a mighty blow, driving his sacred blade "Light Bringer'' through the Lich's chest and pinning him to the floor of Gallowspire. Having suffered a mortal wound during the battle St. Pelor ordered his squire to bring Pelor's knights and priests, to seal and confine the King in Yellow forever. And they did just that. After days of painstaking rituals and prayers the King in Yellow was trapped, sealed within his own blasphemous stronghold.

But before they could celebrate, the entire tower of Gallowspire blinked from existence and into some, unknown realm.


THE THIRD BLIGHT
Only a century later the Fortress of Gallowspire reappeared, but it was in a completely different location than it had been when it's master had been imprisoned. This Blight, while being the shortest at only 18 months, took a terrible toll. The corrupting influence of the desecrated tower spread throughout the countryside twisting man and beast alike. Populations of monsters, once thought to be little more than myth, exploded and grew violent. The Wardens, championed by the descendants of House Markov, answered the call and took up the task of coming to humanity's aid and slaying the beasts that haunt their nightmares.


THE AGE OF RETURNING
(The Current Age)
A century after last Blight, the Elves began to return to the world. First, few at a time, then in droves. But the Elves have returned to a far different world than that which they left. Their vast empire has crumbled and a human kingdom has been built atop its bones. The Elves took back the island of Mar'Edhel; evicting the mortals who had taken up residence by might and magic skill. Word of the Elves return spread quickly.

In other parts of the world a similar returning occurred, Elves that remained behind during the Day of Blood to help defend mortals had been thought wiped out, but instead found their way deep underground and became lost. But they began to return to the surface the same time their kin returned. These elves however, had been forever touched by darkness, their skin ashen, hair stark white; They have come to call themselves the Drow and their motives are as obscure as that of their fair-skinned kindred.

It has been 50 years since the returning and while there is an uneasy peace, the old crones recite oral histories and nursemaid's rhymes of caution:

DHAMPIR
The half-living children of vampires and humans, dhampirs are progeny of both horror and tragedy. Some particularly zealous scholars even contest dhampirs’ status as a unique race, instead viewing them as humans suffering from an unholy affliction. Indeed, this hypothesis is strengthened by dhampirs’ seeming inability to reproduce, their offspring inevitably humans (usually sorcerers with the undead bloodline).

While they possess no unique culture of their own, Dhampir either join the courts of the Lords of Outer Night, giving themselves fully to the Vampire who created them or they rebel against the innate cruelty and bloodlust of their heritage and become members of Vistani tribes, bands of wandering gypsies, and set forth from their darkened homeland of Vindaria to seek purpose.


DRAGONBORN
The Dragonborn hail from across the Sanguine Desert. When all hope was lost, when the Elves had fled, the Dwarves hid underground, and the King in Yellow marched to end all of humanity; it was the Dragonborn who came to the aid of men and helped defeat the evil tyrant. Despite their strong relationship, few Dragonborn remain in the lands of men, returning to their desert homes where they forge weapons and armor of Dragonsteel, one of the finest metals ever known.


DROW
When the Elves fled the world in the wake of the King in Yellow, a group of elves loyal to the world and to mankind, chose to remain behind and fight. This group was decimated and the survivors fled underground, a horde of the King’s undead hot on their heels. By the time the King in Yellow was defeated and his undead crumbled, the Elven survivors had been driven so far underground they had passed into the Shadow Realm, lost.

A number of these “Dark Elves” have found their way back into the world of men, their sacrifice and desperate run underground, almost completely forgotten.


DWARF
There are two subraces of Dwarves, the Hill Dwarf and the Mountain Dwarf. Hill Dwarves live near the surface and stood beside men, fighting to the bitter end to hold back the tide of the Yellow Hordes.

Mountain Dwarves live deep underground in vast, extensive, and ancient halls. They are fabled smiths, unrivaled by any, save maybe the Dragonborn. They craft everything from Weapons, Armor, luxury items, jewelry, and other finery that they sell to the surface races through agreements with their hillfolk kin. They're also great engineers, having designed and built the Stoneridge Rail system that ferries goods and people all across Eastern Idrimore.


ELF
The Elves stood against the King in Yellow’s initial rise, reluctantly throwing their lot in with mankind. During the King’s second rise, he targeted the Elves almost exlcusivly, his hordes of undead, demons, and Orcs pushing the Elves into the sea and forcing them to retreat to their ancient island stronghold. And to unknown realms beyond. After the King in Yellow was struck down, the Elves remained alien to the world. A century has passed and the Elves have returned upon the island of Mar'Edhel to find their ancient forests upon the mainland have now fallen under control of the Humans and they have become refugees in their own lands.

A small group of Elves that remained behind and where not among those that where driven underground, have existed alongside humanity and the other mortal races all this time (they are entirely the reason that Half-Elves even exist) and are sometimes referred to as Wild Elves and are the stereotypical forest dwelling, nature-worshipping, archers that often appear in stories of elves told to children.


GNOME
Gnomes are inexplicably drawn to water and thus, have become the dominant seafaring race of the planet. This love of the sea is so deeply ingrained in them that the story of their creation, passed down through the generations, tells of the first gnomes sailing into the deepest seas of Carcossa from the Elemental Plane of Water. And they’ve continued to sail the seas ever since.

There are Gnomes that settle on land, but rarely more than a few miles inland from the ocean, though they seem to have no particular aversion to land travel and more than a few have settled upon lake shores to ply their seafaring trade as fisherman.


GOBLIN
Goblins are a race of childlike creatures with a destructive and voracious nature that makes them almost universally despised. Weak and cowardly, goblins are frequently manipulated or enslaved by stronger creatures that need destructive, disposable foot soldiers. Those goblins that rely on their own wits to survive live on the fringes of society and feed on refuse and the weaker members of more civilized races. Most other races view them as virulent vermin that have proved impossible to exterminate.


GOLIATH
Goliaths are a nomadic, mountain people. It is said they descend from Giantkind, but the Goliath themselves refute this and instead, believe they were carved from the mountain stone my a mysterious deity known only as The Creator. Goliath society is tribal, with the entirety of a tribe being considered extended family. Goliath children are raised by the entire tribe, with certain groups or members taking responsibility for certain parts of their education.

Stories are incredibly important to a Goliath tribe. Members of the tribe gather around the fire each night to recount tales of old and their own experiences. Goliaths who strike out from their tribes are either exiled (their harshest form of punishment reserved for only the most heinous crimes) or what are known as Legend-seekers; Goliaths who set out to gain new experiences and, most importantly, new stories to bring back to share with their tribe.


HALF-ELF
Half-Elves are generally considered outcasts among both parts of their heritage. Human’s view them as the offspring of traitors that fled instead of fighting the King in Yellow, despite the fact that nearly all half-elves are descended from the Elves that remained behind. Elves typically view them as lesser descendants of weak, traitorous members of their race who chose to side with humanity over their own kindred.

However, Half-Elves generally possess their Elven kin’s keen senses and sharp reflexes as well as their human ancestor’s adaptability; making them exceptionally diverse and skilled.


HALF-ORC
Half-Orcs are the bastard offspring of Orcs and humans. These pairings are rarely by choice, as hordes of Orcs have ravaged and pillaged for thousands of years. In the centuries following the fall of the King in Yellow, the orcs have been pushed into a vast, barren wasteland name for them. Orcs rarely make their way into civilized lands after all these years.

Half-Orcs are strong and deadly, as such they are sought after and valued for their strength and natural combat prowess. They are rarely viewed as anything more than thugs by humans and Half-Orcs are, more often than not, enslaved or outright killed by full-blooded Orcs.


HALFLING
Halflings are an often overlooked race of peoples. In fact, no one knows where they come from, not even halflings. Many believe they are just a deformity of humans, of course halflings disagree with this sentiment, and tend to band together.

Halflings, as a general rule, love the life of leisure and comfort. Why suffer and toil when the big people seem more than happy to do that. Halflings are considered light-footed, agile, and likable.


HUMAN
Humans are the dominant race of Carcossa, their appearance, personalities, and beliefs vary wildly along a massive spectrum. They are considered highly adaptable and seem to be able to flourish in nearly any setting. During the rise of the King in Yellow, it was humanity who formed the bulk of the armies to face him. Despite untold numbers of dead, when the King in Yellow rose some 500 years later, the human population had almost restored itself and fought with renewed tenacity.

Humans, despite their relatively short lifespans, hold a generational grudge against many of the other races. As far as they are concerned; The Elves abandoned them to face the King in Yellow alone, the Drow did the same (after a fashion), the Hill Dwarves fought alongside them while their Mountain kin hid deep below the earth hoarding their riches, Orcs and Half-Orcs are biding their time and building their power to answer the call of the next Blight, Tieflings are an abomination created from their suffering. As a whole they only just get along with most of the other races.


TABAXI
The Tabaxi are a recently discovered race of cat-like humanoids that are native to the jungles of Skar. They remained hidden and isolated within the jungles until expeditions from the Holy Empire made their way south of the Breakline Mountains in search of new lands and resources. The Tabaxi are tribal, violent, and primitive by Imperial standards and have been met with attempts at conversion. The tabaxi do not worship any deities, and thus did not care for missionary attempts at evangelism.

When conversion failed, the Empire moved on to enslavement. Trafficking in Tabaxi slaves has become a booming business with caravans and ships of hundreds of slaves making their way North to “civilized” lands where these slaves are mostly put to work in agriculture. But for every slave that is borne from Skar, three more remain behind, pressed into service on the sugarcane plantations that dot the coastal colonies of the many islands of Skar and the Copper Sea


TIEFLING
Tieflings did not exist in significant numbers until the rise of the King in Yellow and his hordes of Undead, Demons, and Orcs. Tieflings, as their appearance may suggest, are the union of a human and a demon or devil. While they are birthed from the seeds of pure evil, Tieflings themselves don’t seem any more prone to evil than any other race. Their treatment by the other races however, often leads to evil intent.

Following the defeat of the King in Yellow Tieflings were enslaved en mass. Throughout the last few centuries through escaped slaves, being freed, and other various means, a significant free Tiefling population has risen up in the North end of the Sanguine Desert and created a community all their own.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:44, Sun 16 May 2021.

ALCHEMIST
Whether secreted away in a smoky basement laboratory or gleefully experimenting in a well-respected school of magic, the alchemist is often regarded as being just as unstable, unpredictable, and dangerous as the concoctions he brews.


BARBARIAN
For some, there is only rage. In the ways of their people, in the fury of their passion, in the howl of battle, conflict is all these brutal souls know. Savages, hired muscle, masters of vicious martial techniques, they are not soldiers or professional warriors—they are the battle possessed, creatures of slaughter and spirits of war. Known as barbarians, these warmongers know little of training, preparation, or the rules of warfare; for them, only the moment exists, with the foes that stand before them and the knowledge that the next moment might hold their death.


BARD
Untold wonders and secrets exist for those skillful enough to discover them. Through cleverness, talent, and magic, these cunning few unravel the wiles of the world, becoming adept in the arts of persuasion, manipulation, and inspiration. Typically masters of one or many forms of artistry, bards possess an uncanny ability to know more than they should and use what they learn to keep themselves and their allies ever one step ahead of danger.


CAVALIER
While many warriors strive to perfect their art, spending all of their time honing their skill at martial arms, others spend as much effort dedicating themselves to a cause. These warriors, known as cavaliers, swear themselves to a purpose, serving it above all else. Cavaliers are skilled at fighting from horseback, and are often found charging across a battlefield, with the symbol of their order trailing on a long, fluttering banner. The cavalier’s true power comes from the conviction of his ideals, the oaths that he swears, and the challenges he makes.


CLERIC -- Saints and Gods
In faith and the miracles of the divine, many find a greater purpose. Called to serve powers beyond most mortal understanding, all priests preach wonders and provide for the spiritual needs of their people. Clerics are more than mere priests, though; these emissaries of the divine work the will of their gods or saints through strength of arms and the magic of the divine. Devoted to the tenets of the religions and philosophies that inspire them, these ecclesiastics quest to spread the knowledge and influence of their faith.


DRUID
Within the purity of the elements and the order of the wilds lingers a power beyond the marvels of civilization. Furtive yet undeniable, these primal magics are guarded over by servants of philosophical balance known as druids. Allies to beasts and manipulators of nature, these often misunderstood protectors of the wild strive to shield their lands from all who would threaten them and prove the might of the wilds to those who lock themselves behind city walls. Rewarded for their devotion with incredible powers, druids gain unparalleled shape-shifting abilities, the companionship of mighty beasts, and the power to call upon nature’s wrath.


FIGHTER
Some take up arms for glory, wealth, or revenge. Others do battle to prove themselves, to protect others, or because they know nothing else. Still others learn the ways of weaponcraft to hone their bodies in battle and prove their mettle in the forge of war. Lords of the battlefield, fighters are a disparate lot, training with many weapons or just one, perfecting the uses of armor, learning the fighting techniques of exotic masters, and studying the art of combat, all to shape themselves into living weapons. Far more than mere thugs, these skilled warriors reveal the true deadliness of their weapons, turning hunks of metal into arms capable of taming kingdoms, slaughtering monsters, and rousing the hearts of armies.


GUNSLINGER
For a renegade few, battle sounds different than it does for the typical fighter. The clash of steel and the sizzle of spell energy are drowned out by the thunderous rhythm of gunfire —the pounding beat of the gunslinger. Gunslingers are a bold and mysterious lot. While many treat the secrets of black powder with the same care and reverence that a wizard typically reserves for his spellbook, most gunslingers know that firearms are a secret that cannot remain concealed forever


INQUISITOR
Grim and determined, the inquisitor roots out enemies of the faith, using trickery and guile when righteousness and purity is not enough. Although inquisitors are dedicated to a saint, they are above many of the normal rules and conventions of the church. They answer to their patron saint and their own sense of justice alone, and are willing to take extreme measures to meet their goals.


MAGUS
There are those who spend their lives poring over ancient tomes and texts, unlocking the power of magic, and there are those who spend their time perfecting the use of individual weapons, becoming masters without equal. The magus is at once a student of both philosophies, blending magical ability and martial prowess into something entirely unique, a discipline in which both spell and steel are used to devastating effect. As he grows in power, the magus unlocks powerful forms of arcana that allow him to merge his talents further, and at the pinnacle of his art, the magus becomes a blur of steel and magic, a force that few foes would dare to stand against.


MONK
For the truly exemplary, martial skill transcends the battlefield—it is a lifestyle, a doctrine, a state of mind. These warrior-artists search out methods of battle beyond swords and shields, finding weapons within themselves just as capable of crippling or killing as any blade. These monks (so called since they adhere to ancient philosophies and strict martial disciplines) elevate their bodies to become weapons of war, from battle-minded ascetics to self-taught brawlers. Monks tread the path of discipline, and those with the will to endure that path discover within themselves not what they are, but what they are meant to be.


ORACLE
Although divinity works through many agents, perhaps none is more mysterious than the oracle. These divine vessels are granted power without their choice, selected by providence to wield powers that even they do not fully understand. Unlike a cleric, who draws her magic through devotion to a saint, oracles garner strength and power from many sources, namely those aspects of the divine that support their ideals. Instead of worshiping a single source, oracles tend to venerate all of divinity that aligns with their beliefs. While some see the powers of the oracle as a gift, others view them as a curse, changing the life of the chosen in unforeseen ways.


PALADIN
Through a select, worthy few shines the power of the divine. Called paladins, these noble souls dedicate their swords and lives to the battle against evil. Knights, crusaders, and lawbringers, paladins seek not just to spread divine justice but to embody the teachings of the virtuous saints they serve. In pursuit of their lofty goals, they adhere to ironclad codes of morality and discipline. As reward for their righteousness, these holy champions are blessed with boons to aid them in their quests: powers to banish evil, heal the innocent, and inspire the faithful. Although their convictions might lead them into conflict with the very souls they would save, paladins weather endless challenges of faith and dark temptations, risking their lives to do right and fighting to bring about a brighter future.


RANGER
For those who relish the thrill of the hunt, there are only predators and prey. Be they scouts, trackers, or bounty hunters, rangers share much in common: unique mastery of specialized weapons, skill at stalking even the most elusive game, and the expertise to defeat a wide range of quarries. Knowledgeable, patient, and skilled hunters, these rangers hound man, beast, and monster alike, gaining insight into the way of the predator, skill in varied environments, and ever more lethal martial prowess. While some track man-eating creatures to protect the frontier, others pursue more cunning game—even fugitives among their own people.


ROGUE
Life is an endless adventure for those who live by their wits. Ever just one step ahead of danger, rogues bank on their cunning, skill, and charm to bend fate to their favor. Never knowing what to expect, they prepare for everything, becoming masters of a wide variety of skills, training themselves to be adept manipulators, agile acrobats, shadowy stalkers, or masters of any of dozens of other professions or talents. Thieves and gamblers, fast talkers and diplomats, bandits and bounty hunters, and explorers and investigators all might be considered rogues, as well as countless other professions that rely upon wits, prowess, or luck. Although many rogues favor cities and the innumerable opportunities of civilization, some embrace lives on the road, journeying far, meeting exotic people, and facing fantastic danger in pursuit of equally fantastic riches. In the end, any who desire to shape their fates and live life on their own terms might come to be called rogues.


SORCERER
Scions of innately magical bloodlines, the chosen of the divine, the spawn of monsters, pawns of fate and destiny, or simply flukes of fickle magic, sorcerers look within themselves for arcane prowess and draw forth might few mortals can imagine. Emboldened by lives ever threatening to be consumed by their innate powers, these magic-touched souls endlessly indulge in and refine their mysterious abilities, gradually learning how to harness their birthright and coax forth ever greater arcane feats. Just as varied as these innately powerful spellcasters’ abilities and inspirations are the ways in which they choose to utilize their gifts. While some seek to control their abilities through meditation and discipline, becoming masters of their fantastic birthright, others give in to their magic, letting it rule their lives with often explosive results. Regardless, sorcerers live and breathe that which other spellcasters devote their lives to mastering, and for them magic is more than a boon or a field of study; it is life itself.


SUMMONER
While many who dabble in the arcane become adept at beckoning monsters from the farthest reaches of the planes, none are more skilled at it than the summoner. This practitioner of the arcane arts forms a close bond with one particular outsider, known as an eidolon, who gains power as the summoner becomes more proficient at his summoning. Over time, the two become linked, eventually even sharing a shard of the same soul. But this power comes with a price: the summoner’s spells and abilities are limited due to his time spent enhancing the power and exploring the nature of his eidolon.


WITCH
Some gain power through study, some through devotion, others through blood, but the witch gains power from her communion with the unknown. Generally feared and misunderstood, the witch draws her magic from a pact made with an otherworldly power. Communing with that source, using her familiar as a conduit, the witch gains not only a host of spells, but a number of strange abilities known as hexes. As a witch grows in power, she might learn about the source of her magic, but some remain blissfully unaware. Some are even afraid of that source, fearful of what it might be or where its true purposes lie.


WIZARD
Beyond the veil of the mundane hide the secrets of absolute power. The works of beings beyond mortals, the legends of realms where gods and spirits tread, the lore of creations both wondrous and terrible—such mysteries call to those with the ambition and the intellect to rise above the common folk to grasp true might. Such is the path of the wizard. These shrewd magic-users seek, collect, and covet esoteric knowledge, drawing on cultic arts to work wonders beyond the abilities of mere mortals. While some might choose a particular field of magical study and become masters of such powers, others embrace versatility, reveling in the unbounded wonders of all magic. In either case, wizards prove a cunning and potent lot, capable of smiting their foes, empowering their allies, and shaping the world to their every desire.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:31, Sun 16 May 2021.

Map of Idrimore

THE HOLY PALORIAN EMPIRE -- More Info
The Holy Palorian Empire; eponymous of St. Pelor, the hero that vanquished the The King in Yellow, is the largest kingdom of the Continent of Idrimore, and by it’s holy edict of spreading the word of Pelor, the empire is ever expanding. And almost constantly at war.


THE PRINCIPALITY OF GRISTOL
The Principality of Gristol formed one-hundred and ten years ago, following a long and terrible civil war within the Holy Empire. Thousands of hectares of land had been abandoned by the elves as they fled the world. The empire immediately moved to expand into these regions and claim the lands north of the Empire. Over the course of a decade the King ruled from afar, placing his sister in charge. However, the self-appointed, Princess fundamentally disagreed with her brother and the amount of control he was allowing the Church. This difference of opinion led to a break between the two powers, and a long and bloody civil war. Forty-five years after the conflict began the Principality of Gristol won its independence. For sixty -five years the Principality has ruled itself, building a country atop the bones of abandoned Elven ruins.

However, with the return of the Elves, the Principality has been placed in a delicate position. The Princess refuses to succeed the lands she has claimed in the Elves' absence while to the south her brother and the Church of Pelor sit poised to strike at the Principality’s Southern Border in their ever present quest to conquer and convert. At present the Elves and Gristol have come to a peaceful arrangement, but if the peace will last is anyone’s guess.


HOUSE EVERMOON
The great house of the Elves, House Evermoon, ruled for thousands of years before the rise of the King in Yellow. When Hastodur turned his legions upon them the Elves were left with a terrible choice; abandon the world and the young races to defend themselves or face complete annihilation. After the first Blight their mastery of magic began to wain, a parting gift from The King in Yellow upon his defeat. The patron of House Evermoon made a choice, one that not all of his people agreed with, and began the ritual to open portals all across Mar'Edhel (Mar-Ee-Dell), the island of the Elves. In waves of thousands Elven men, women, and children marched through the portals to their destination while a coalition of Elves and Wardens did battle with the Yellow Hordes, slaying countless Orcs, Undead, and Demons in a desperate bid to distract the legions and ensure as many Elves as possible escaped. A century and a half later the Elves have returned to the world. While they have vague memories of things they did, things they learned while they were away, the Elves have no memory of where they have been all this time.

But the world they returned to was not the world they expected. Humans have taken over their lands, squatting within and atop Elven ruins. Even upon their island sanctum. The Elves attempted to force the interlopers from their island but the humans have grown too freely, too numerous to be purged from their lands. Instead they were put under occupation and have become little more than refugees, building tent cities and slums in and among the ruins of their once great kingdom. Enouch (Ee-Nok) Evermoon, "The Great King in Exile" pleads for peace and aid from the Holy Empire's rival nations, but this failure of diplomacy and their daily mistreatment has sparked the inklings of a bloody rebellion in the elven masses.


DRAGON EMPERIUM
Across the Sanguine Desert lies the Kingdom of the Dragon Emperium, home to the varied Dragonborn. Little is known of the Dragonborn as they keep to themselves mostly. What is known is their mastery of Dragonsteel, a mysterious metal that when fashioned into bladed weapons, can hold an especially keen edge, remaining sharp forever without the need for honing.

During the Third Blight, a flight of Dragonborn Dervishes crossed the burning sands of the Sanguine Desert and came to the aid of men. They fought alongside the Men of the Empire before retreating once Gallowspire again vanished, leaving behind a handful of Dragon Steel weapons of exquisite make and value. No one knows why the Dragonborn came to their aid and all attempts to send envoys to the Emperium have met with polite, but firm, refusal.


STONERIDGE CLAN HOLD
The Stoneridge Clanhold is the largest kingdom of the Dwarves in Idrimore. The clanhold stretches for thousands of miles in every direction beneath the Barricade mountains. From their vast mines the dwarves pull precious metals, coal, and every mineral imaginable. In addition, the Dwarves have harnessed a power the rest of the world has yet to discover, the power of Steam. Originally observed when water interacted with magma deep underground the dwarves have developed steam to do a number of jobs within their communities, from transferring heat from place to place, heating the homes of the Hill dwarves on the surface during the harsh mountain winters, to push water through metal pipes to all corners of their domain, and in their masterwork of the Stoneridge Rail; the great locomotive that travels from the Clanhold all the way to Innskeep deep within the Holy Empire.

The surface dwarves, and a number of the underground dwellers, have spread across Idrimore and become renowned smiths and craftsmen, miners and engineers. Human settlements that play host to dwarven communities count themselves lucky.


THE ORC LANDS
Unlike the rest of Carcossia the Free Realms within the Orc Lands has no centralized government, no noble houses, and little to no law. It is considered, especially by those who make their home there, to be one of the few free places in the known world. What few cities and towns settled here are home to hard-bitten, tough men and women. They are the only ones who choose (or in some cases are forced) to make their homes away from civilized lands and are under constant threat of Goblin raids and Orc sieges.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:55, Wed 19 May 2021.

ARKHAM
Arkham sits somewhere across the Copper Sea from Idrimore. It is the largest metropolis in the known world and is home to the Ark, a monolithic stone of unknown origin left behind by the Star Spawn. Originally known simply as The Hamlet of the Ark, over the centuries the name morphed into Arkham.


JIANGSHI
Somewhere to the far east, beyond the shores of Arkham lies the mystical lands of Jiangshi. This land has a long and dark history, since its time as the final stronghold of the Star Spawn.


THE SHACKLED ISLES
The Shackled Isles are a chain of numerous, small islands just off the coast of Skar to the south of Idrimore. These islands have gained a notorious reputation for pirates, indiscriminate rogues who strike at nearly any vessel they believe is carrying valuable cargo. In particular, the pirates have begun hitting Imperial and Principality ships carrying holds stuffed to the gills with sugarcane and rum. As a result, plantation owners have begun to fortify their lands, and merchant ships are paying fistfuls of coin to hire every adventurer and mercenary they can to dissuade and counter the threat of piracy.


SKAR
The Jungle region of Skar sits directly to the South of Idrimore, separated only by the Breakline Mountains. Skar is a vast, unexplored jungle filled with creatures of all forms, many of them never before seen in the world. In addition, ruins of ancient origin that potentially predate the Elves, have recently been found by explorers. The walls of these ruins are vast and massive in scale, wall carvings depict large cyclopic beings that no one has ever seen before.

This region is home to the Tabaxi tribes, many of whom have become slaves, taken by the Holy Empire. While thousands of Tabaxi are captured, loaded onto ships, and transported north to be kept and sold like property three times their number remain in the region enslaved by plantation owners to work the sugarcane fields and rum distilleries.


TYURDALL
Tyurdall is a fledgling Kingdom just North of Idrimore carved from dozens of nomadic, warring barbarian tribes. Officially known as Tyurdall’s Hold, named after the savage barbarian leader who has united the tribes under her iron fist. The kingdom is little more than a vast, often frigid wasteland and a single, massive tent city huddled around the bones of a work in progress palace. Little is really known about the Kingdom except that their response to interlopers is swift and severe.


VINDARIA
Vindaria is a vast kingdom situated to the North-West of Idrimore. The sun rarely shines in Vindaria, the skies most often clouded or pouring rain, and the ruling Vampire Lords rather like it that way. Nine Vampire houses rule over the kingdom and subjugate the human population, which also serves as their food source. A small number of the population have developed a strange disorder of the blood that makes them ‘unpalatable’ to vampires. The vampires have no use for these people and therefore completely ignore their existence, allowing them to come and go from the kingdom as they like. Among the rest of the world the these Vistani have become synonymous with troupes of travelling gypsies, thieves, and con men, leading to the popular saying “Not all vampires are Vindarian, but all Vindarian are vampires.”
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:41, Mon 17 May 2021.

THE FEYWILD
The Feywild, sometimes referred to as The First World, is the home of all Fey creatures. It is a timeless realm of unmolested nature at its height. Forests that stretch, unbroken, for thousands of miles, Mountains that reach into the heavens, seas of the deepest depths.


THE NIGHT BELOW
When the remaining elves fled underground to escape the roving death squads of demons and the undead legions that hunted them, they were prepared to remain underground for years if necessary. But the undead, commanded to "Hunt and Kill all Elves" carried out the will of their creator long after his defeat, forcing the remaining elves into a desperate, century long running battle for their very survival. Deep beneath Carcossia where the darkness is absolute, strange reality warping energies reside, and in these places exist Ways into the realm of utter darkness known as The Night Below (and sometimes as the Underdark) where there is no sunlight, and no surface world to discover, just endless caves and darkness.

This is the realm into which the Elves fled, and here they were changed. Their flesh darkened and their hair bleached, their eyes finally adjusted to the infinite twilight and they could finally see their enemy without the aid of fire, and their connection to their kindred was severed. Here these Dark Elves made their stand and beat back the endless hordes of Death in brutal battle. Having felt a mysterious pull the Drow have found their way out of the Night Below and back to the world of the Material.


THE SHADOWFELL
Sometimes referred to as The Realm of the Dead, the Shadowfell is an endless realm of wayward souls and vengeful spirits driven mad but too weak to manifest in the Material world on their own. These spirits seek nothing more than to inflict their pain and suffering on the living, and thus come easily to the call of any mortal practitioner foolish enough to summon them. Once upon the material plane these spirits take hold of the nearest uninhabited body, be it a recently deceased corpse or the desiccated skeleton of an ancient warrior beneath a centuries old battlefield, so that they might reek havoc and pain upon the living. Only the willpower of the one that summoned them keeping them in check.


THE DREAMLANDS
The Dreamlands, sometimes referred to as The Fade or the Astral Plane, is the realm of literal dreams. It is believed by scholars to be some leftover effect of the Star Spawn experiments performed on their oldest ancestors, but all of the races (except the Elves because they do not sleep) arrive in the Dreamlands for a short time until they wake back in their bodies. Most, appear to only have access to their own portion of the Dreamlands where their will is made manifest in the form of dreams. The rules of reality bend to the form of the dreamer, but they cannot directly affect the dreamscape of another dreamer.

Few, with the aid of magic, have learned a deeper level of control and can access the dreamlands through meditation and spellcasting. This allows spellcasters to enter The Fade, summon creatures of pure dream energy, and communicate with both the waking world and those remaining in the Dreamlands.


THE ELEMENTAL PLANES
There are four elemental planes; The Elemental Plane of Fire, The Elemental Plane of Water, The Elemental Plane of Air, and The Elemental Plane of Earth. Legend tells that at the very heart of each plane lies one of the four Primordials; beasts of infinite divine elemental power imprisoned in eternal slumber. It is these primordial's dreams that birthed each plane, its unique reality, and even the creatures that call each plane home.


THE NINE HELLS
The Nine Hells, most often simply referred to as Hell, is the torturous plane where evil festers and breeds. Where the corpses of the dead are fed into infernal machines and the souls of the wicked and sinful are rendered to shreds and reconstituted into the grotesque unholy union of mangled flesh and vile darkness of demon-kind stitched together by infernal Forgemasters.

Demons and Devils alike reside here, under the infinite rule of Asmodeus, the Wish Granter and Lord of Lies. There are nine levels, or Circles, of Hell each ruled over by an Archdemon Prince. These Princes of Hell each command infinite legions of demon and devil soldiers and use them to make war upon each other, mostly out of the sheer tedium of the eons and to keep their forces sharp and bloodthirsty for the inevitable Blood War; the prophesized time when the Gates of Hell will swing open and the unsurpassed might of Hell itself will descend upon Carcossia.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:22, Mon 17 May 2021.

This section will house a list of NPCs that the party meets along their journey so that they can refresh themselves on the who's who of who they have crossed paths with.


This message was last edited by the GM at 16:44, Fri 28 May 2021.