Firmament Campaign Setting WIP
drasnor
Starship OperatorHawthorne, CA Icrontian
I'm providing this since some of you are getting antsy to start doing backstory and character-building decisions for the next campaign. I realize there's not a whole lot here to satisfy that aspect of your curiosity, but hopefully this will give you some world history to start framing your mindset.
Origin Story (from the point of view of humans, dwarves, elves, gnomes, etc; hereafter referred to as humankind)
It's been roughly two millennia since the the three goddesses brought the races of humankind to their promised land and found it already taken. The goddesses brought us to Firmament in the bill of a great stork flying across the ocean of stars. However, in the chaos of their arrival the goddess Zaphyra was forced to stay behind and safeguard the ancients' bounty while the goddesses Ariel and Kharla brought us across the final distance in their arms.
What greeted our ancestors on Firmament were the Dragons. There was a great, brief war between the goddesses and the dragons to decide which of us would be allowed to survive. The dragons in their might clashed with the goddesses in their fury and rent the land and skies asunder. In the end, the metallic-hued dragons made peace with the goddess Ariel to allow the dragons and our people to coexist. Kharla, furious at this betrayal, cursed Ariel on behalf of all of our dead. Likewise did the chromatic dragons curse their metallic bretheren. But this uneasy peace has held.
As their final act together, the goddesses created demigods to oversee us and locked themselves away in slumber until the advent of Zaphyra. It is written that her coming will be marked by a great flame in the heavens, and the bounty of the ancients bestowed upon the righteous. Today most remember, but few truly believe.
About the world:
Firmament is a small world roughly the size of Earth's moon, but with roughly the same mass and thus gravity as Earth. Firmament's surface is 3/4 covered in water. The remainder is land spread across three continents; two on opposite sides of the planet spreading north to south across an equator and a frozen continent over the north pole shrouded in mist.
The two temperate continents are home to all the sentient life on Firmament as well as the usual fantasy flora and fauna. There is a good deal of geographic variety on the populated continents and all the major biomes except tundra are represented. There are also a few strange regions distorted by the Dragon War where nature behaves in peculiar ways. The frozen, mist-covered continent to the north remains enigmatic as no adventurers have ever returned that set foot inland from its coasts.
I have not quite firmed up (hah) what the present technology level or political layout will consist of. The party will be starting in a small town in a mountainous region conveniently located near the border of two nations engaging in a territorial dominance war.
I toyed with changing how time works, but the game system really relies on Earth time for best results. As such, a year is 360 24-hr days, where an hour is 60 minutes and a minute is 60 seconds. There are 12 months each 30 days long, and the climate conditions are such that each year has four seasons (3 months each) outside of the arctic and tropics (which get two seasons).
The things in the sky consist of two stars, a large one and a smaller one orbiting it fairly closely, and a huge planet that Firmament itself is a moon of. Firmament orbits about this yet-to-be-named planet once every month. Rarely but predictably for those in the know, the relative positions of this planet and the suns makes for a week-long eclipse which will likely be given religious significance. Also, all the stars in one portion of the sky are deep red shading through pink to white in a wide band before shading through blue to violet on the opposite side.
Religion:
For the human races, there are the three major faiths of the goddesses. The followers of Ariel are generally advocates of secular tolerance; but are widely demonized as selling out humankind's birthright to Firmament. The majority of people are followers of Kharla, which is supremacist versus the Dragons and dragonians. The followers of Zaphyra are the fewest in number as members of her faith have no secular interest. It is a selfless faith whose followers give everything of themselves to help their fellows. Each race claims their own patron demigod as well.
Magic:
Magic is poorly understood among humankind. Arcane magic is thought to derive from the forces which shape existence. Attuning one's mind to these energies allows the sufficiently willful to bend them. Some are born innately with the knack while others can learn it through study.
Divine magic is thought to be granted by the demigods as representatives of the goddesses.
Races:
TBD, but essentially all the basic Tolkien faire is here. In addition there are the dragonians, which are nomadic lizard-people who mostly keep to themselves and don't speak common. I haven't decided if I want to make them playable or not since coping with extreme racism and inability to communicate is very hard to roleplay; though reading Darths & Droids has been inspiring.
Classes:
TBD, count on all the basics and I'll decide on the others later.
In closing, the setting is meant to be a medium fantasy epic with sci-fi elements. I'd also like to request that we play this episodically in lieu of continuously like the Isles story. Feedback welcome.
Origin Story (from the point of view of humans, dwarves, elves, gnomes, etc; hereafter referred to as humankind)
It's been roughly two millennia since the the three goddesses brought the races of humankind to their promised land and found it already taken. The goddesses brought us to Firmament in the bill of a great stork flying across the ocean of stars. However, in the chaos of their arrival the goddess Zaphyra was forced to stay behind and safeguard the ancients' bounty while the goddesses Ariel and Kharla brought us across the final distance in their arms.
What greeted our ancestors on Firmament were the Dragons. There was a great, brief war between the goddesses and the dragons to decide which of us would be allowed to survive. The dragons in their might clashed with the goddesses in their fury and rent the land and skies asunder. In the end, the metallic-hued dragons made peace with the goddess Ariel to allow the dragons and our people to coexist. Kharla, furious at this betrayal, cursed Ariel on behalf of all of our dead. Likewise did the chromatic dragons curse their metallic bretheren. But this uneasy peace has held.
As their final act together, the goddesses created demigods to oversee us and locked themselves away in slumber until the advent of Zaphyra. It is written that her coming will be marked by a great flame in the heavens, and the bounty of the ancients bestowed upon the righteous. Today most remember, but few truly believe.
About the world:
Firmament is a small world roughly the size of Earth's moon, but with roughly the same mass and thus gravity as Earth. Firmament's surface is 3/4 covered in water. The remainder is land spread across three continents; two on opposite sides of the planet spreading north to south across an equator and a frozen continent over the north pole shrouded in mist.
The two temperate continents are home to all the sentient life on Firmament as well as the usual fantasy flora and fauna. There is a good deal of geographic variety on the populated continents and all the major biomes except tundra are represented. There are also a few strange regions distorted by the Dragon War where nature behaves in peculiar ways. The frozen, mist-covered continent to the north remains enigmatic as no adventurers have ever returned that set foot inland from its coasts.
I have not quite firmed up (hah) what the present technology level or political layout will consist of. The party will be starting in a small town in a mountainous region conveniently located near the border of two nations engaging in a territorial dominance war.
I toyed with changing how time works, but the game system really relies on Earth time for best results. As such, a year is 360 24-hr days, where an hour is 60 minutes and a minute is 60 seconds. There are 12 months each 30 days long, and the climate conditions are such that each year has four seasons (3 months each) outside of the arctic and tropics (which get two seasons).
The things in the sky consist of two stars, a large one and a smaller one orbiting it fairly closely, and a huge planet that Firmament itself is a moon of. Firmament orbits about this yet-to-be-named planet once every month. Rarely but predictably for those in the know, the relative positions of this planet and the suns makes for a week-long eclipse which will likely be given religious significance. Also, all the stars in one portion of the sky are deep red shading through pink to white in a wide band before shading through blue to violet on the opposite side.
Religion:
For the human races, there are the three major faiths of the goddesses. The followers of Ariel are generally advocates of secular tolerance; but are widely demonized as selling out humankind's birthright to Firmament. The majority of people are followers of Kharla, which is supremacist versus the Dragons and dragonians. The followers of Zaphyra are the fewest in number as members of her faith have no secular interest. It is a selfless faith whose followers give everything of themselves to help their fellows. Each race claims their own patron demigod as well.
Magic:
Magic is poorly understood among humankind. Arcane magic is thought to derive from the forces which shape existence. Attuning one's mind to these energies allows the sufficiently willful to bend them. Some are born innately with the knack while others can learn it through study.
Divine magic is thought to be granted by the demigods as representatives of the goddesses.
Races:
TBD, but essentially all the basic Tolkien faire is here. In addition there are the dragonians, which are nomadic lizard-people who mostly keep to themselves and don't speak common. I haven't decided if I want to make them playable or not since coping with extreme racism and inability to communicate is very hard to roleplay; though reading Darths & Droids has been inspiring.
Classes:
TBD, count on all the basics and I'll decide on the others later.
In closing, the setting is meant to be a medium fantasy epic with sci-fi elements. I'd also like to request that we play this episodically in lieu of continuously like the Isles story. Feedback welcome.
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Comments
On a side note: If you need me to add forum access for any players, let me know. I still don't know Bender's forum name.
Whereas, The Isles of the Sun was essentially a single, very long, adventure, despite the chapter breaks.
The big advantage for players in an episodic camp. is that their professions become more meaningful. For every week that passes between episodes, they can make a profit check and earn some cash. This is pretty nice in early levels. If it's also a constrained setting - like if the whole thing takes place in and around one city - It also allows other things that require down-time and a home (like establishing a business in town or building a fortress or somesuch). Finally, it allows the DM to run adventures where a player is missing more easily, by having them simply not be part of that episode.
The advantage for the DM is the ability to plan the next episode farther in advance, since he/she doesn't need to wait and figure out where and when the adventurers will be before planning it.
The only disadvantage is a loss of a certain sense of urgency to the greater story, if the story requires such, sometimes, if not done right, it can make the campaign feel more constrained.
Convenient for me because as a DM, I prefer a serial campaign, but as a player, I find I prefer episodic.
Barbarian
Bard
Cleric
Druid
Fighter
Monk
Paladin
Ranger
Rogue
Sorcerer
Wizard
Alchemist
Cavalier
Gunslinger
Inquisitor
Magus
Witch
http://paizo.com/products/btpy8o9k
http://paizo.com/products/btpy8lgn
Would I be able to use anything out of them? The first book is all about Gunslingers and some alternate options, and the 2nd one is a list of Favored Class options (including the new classes added in UC and UM that didn't exist in the standard and advance PHB.) I don't want to buy the books if I am unable to use them, but I'd pick them up if I can.