[3.5] Campain setting: Porovesus

[DrakebloodIV]

Imagine a world where there are no hills, no trees, no shade or shelter from sight. A world ten thousand times the size of the great planes of the Midwest. A world where massive herds of Bison and cattle stampede across the world and hunters rely on camouflage and long vision, stalking their prey for days or weeks. This land is Provesus, the plains of ten thousand miles.

Emphasizes in the campaign
-Castles- Like in the early middle ages, castles in Provesus provide people with great amounts of protection with only a minimal amount of physical force. A castle is very expensive and difficult to make however. So every castle is treated as an incredibly valuable object, often guarded by magi and powerful kings.
-Travel- Traveling in Provesus is a dangerious risk, it shows courage to go with a caravan when it might at any moment be attacked by raiders or wild animals.
-Vision- In Provesus vision range is a fixed statistic associated with specific races. Not to mention the use of telescopes and camouflage allow for much in the way of long distance combat
-Law vs. Chaos- Law in this campaign symbolizes the sacrifice of personal power for a semblance of safety. Chaos offers a greater potential for personal prophet, but the risk of death is much greater.
-Magic- The art of magic is not an uncommon practice, but it is rare for especially skilled casters to occur. They are regarded with almost as much value as rare metals or castles

Ecology- The ecology of Provesus is different from that of Earth. Large mountains, wide seas and thick forests are nonexistant. These types of terrain exist:
-Plains
-Grasslands
-Swamp
-Small lakes and rivers
-Desert
-Tundra
-Sahara

Politics
The Politics of Provesus are a delicate matter. The world runs for the most part on a circle of trade, with the fertile plains feeding the desert people while the desert people supply the plainsmen with building materials and luxury goods.

Classes- I'm thinking of using Fax Celests D20 Revolution system when running this campaign, it will vary based on how well the different melee classes and magic classes work out.

Races- Each race generally fills different roles, based on their social status and physical features
Humans- Knights, Paladins, Wizards, Kings
Gnolls- Mercenaries, Gaurds, Men at arms
Goblins- Raiders, Horse Archers, wolf riders
Orcs- Riders, Gaurds
Dwarfs- Miners, Barbarians
Elves- Druids, riders, Wizards
Giants (although they come slightly smaller in this campaign)- Gaurds, Ambushers
Halflings- Ambushers, riders
Lizardfolk- Traders, merchants, well runners
Peregains, a custom race of my own making- Snipers, Monks, Scouts
Aquatic elves and drow will be combined into one thing...
Possible stuff- Something winterized, Modified Centaurs, Other stuff

History

The forging of the world

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At the dawn of creation Moradin stood with the world under his anvil. The world he saw before him was small, petty by comparison to other worlds, so he decided to mold the world to his will. Wham! went his hammar, with the power of ten thousand exploding suns. Sparks flew from the planet which burned hot enough to sear through a forest. Wham! a second blow was struck, flattening the planet further. His blows struck again and again, the sparks formed stars to light the night sky and he took the slag from his smithing to form a burning hot Sun. Finally, he flipped the world like a coin so that it would have day and night. He found his world was complete.

The dawning of the Peregins
[spoiler]
It was a wide and great land, but razor thin. At its thinnest point it was no more than a mile thick. This would not be good enough for the god of dwarves. He chose to gift this world away to Fharlanghn, for this world was wide and long, perfect for a traveler such as him. Now at this time a race had grown up on the land called Porven. This race was neither strong nor fast, nor could it wield the magics of the divine, but Fharlanghn saw that they loved to travel to great heights. Fharlanghn saw that this world was still to hilly for his tastes, so he decided to rework the world. He blessed these people, called the Peregians with great wings and a far sight that they might see the sight of his great work. The flew up high into the skies and he began draw his hand across the world. He scooped the world flat as a plain.

The great dragon wars

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Finally, he called other races and gods to the world. Many answered his call. First came his lover, Atroa, came to the land. She promised to guide and defend the Peregains. Next the call was answered by Tiamat and her brother Bahamut. They brought their children into the world and a great war was fought. Two thousand years passed of horrible war between the dragons and hundreds of thousands of Peregains were drafted into each side and died. Fharlanghn was powerful in this plane, but not powerful enough to defeat both sides. He called upon the dragon king Io to bring peace between them. An uneasy peace was forged, but Fharlanghn found that his world was no longer as flat as he wished. In places great dunes and hills had formed to better serve as defenses for the dragons. There were still no mountains or forests, but Fharlanghn found that wandering here reminded him only of bad memories. So he left this world for another.

The Next Godcalling

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In his preparations to leave Provesus, Fharlanghn called upon other gods again that they might fill his place in this world. He first called upon his old friend Moradin and asked that he might bring his Dwarves to this place. Moradin found that normal dwarves were too stocky and slow for this place, so he created a new breed of dwarves built for short sprints and hiding. These bush dwarves had scrub covered beards and sharper eyes, though they were less adjusted for vision in tunnels. Moradin called upon Corellon Larethian for he felt that in a world of dwarves elves were needed too. Corellon denied the call at first, but then he saw that Lolth had been of Child with Deep Sashelas in this realm. As the dark aquatic elves...

More soon

[DrakebloodIV]

I'm gonna need to figure out how law vs. chaos works with Good vs Evil...

[Draz74]

Where do people get stone to build castles? It sounds like the terrain isn't very quarry-friendly ...

[DrakebloodIV]

It all depends on the water table...

You see in the plains there is a lot of water just a few feet below the ground, so you could only mine about five feet down before you hit water. From there there are two options for building a castle.

-Build a large moat around the castle, taking dirt and other stuff out to make building materials
-Import rock, glass, sand and such from the tundras and deserts.

[Antariuk]

Interesting idea, but I think without bigger woods you will have serious problems building houses and even castles, as you would have to cut away all smaller woods in a long distance. What will palisades be made from of not wood? What about the beams and frames you need to build a castle? (even an early form of a castle as you mentioned, remind to castles in Europe during the Dark Age).

[DrakebloodIV]

Well, I'm pretty sure that poor farmers at least could use sod houses. Perhaps the castles are just made entirely out of stone, something especially light (like sandstone) could be used as a support. Or, I suppose the tundra might end up being alpine forests, which would really emphasize how alien the far north was to everyone.

I'm thinking I might do something strange as far as aquatic life on this planet. Seeing as most water is underground, perhaps the aquatic races should be underground and have blindsense.


Edit: Perhaps woven grass houses like the tribes of africa have?

[mr.fizzypop]

Well, I'm pretty sure that poor farmers at least could use sod houses. Perhaps the castles are just made entirely out of stone, something especially light (like sandstone) could be used as a support. Or, I suppose the tundra might end up being alpine forests, which would really emphasize how alien the far north was to everyone.

Maybe adobe houses for the deserts?

[DrakebloodIV]

I've decided to make this the homepage for links I will gradually accumulate for this campaign. We'll see if I can get this well organized & running