Help build a world that makes sense...

[Ranting Fool]

*Spoiler Warning* Oh you lurking brothers of mine, reading this thread will/could spoil any/all upcoming plot hooks. So Eisenford the Nameless and Mortuus Vivant if you don't want to ruin the game/get a rule book chucked at you don't read this.

Right now that is sorted out I would like to enlist the help of the Playground with my campaign since you guys have been very helpful over the last few weeks.

Feel free to ask questions, point out flaws or plot holes, tell me something is just plain bad. I will endeavour to give full answers where I can though sometimes the answer will end up being "I don't know yet" or "Oh hadn't thought of that".

Note: Most names are just shorted since it makes no difference and I find using a descriptive name for an NPC in my notes helps me remember who's who and what's what. Also Warning Wall Of Text.

Also feel free to pinch any bit you like for your own campaigns if you like an idea expressed here.

The Setting

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My campaign is based around a "New World" style idea. Think along the lines of European powers starting to colonize America and the resulting skirmishes and outright wars over territory and the displacing of the native populations.

Magic is used a fair bit but all of it on the low level scale. Example: The highest pure caster the players have encountered so far from the old world was Level 7. (Not counting random Goblin Artificer of unknown level)

It's been 10 years since the last major war, world war in scale but a ceesefire was agreed up once the big magic was unleashed and a few cities got wiped out. The major factions want to Rule people not a wasteland.

Why has this land only now just been discovered.

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Well as far as people knew (and if the high level mages/clerics knew different they never said and claimed innocence) the endless sea was... well endless as in you'd end up right back to where you started. Called the endless sea as no vessel had ever gone all the way round (even ones buffed up with magic) and if you were to Scry the area all you'd see is water.

Well about 3 years ago some bright sparks from the Free Cities designed a new type of ocean going vessel that didn't use magic and would be able to cross the endless sea... why? Mostly because they could, the idea was to prove how sea worthy these new ships were so they could sell the design since most major factions only ever used costal hugging ships.

Also it has been proven that any magically enchanted ship will not make it to the new world. No one knows (or is saying) why these ships didn't arrive though there are many theriors on it. The whole conternet can't be scried from the outside so maybe there is some sort of wall of dispell somewhere in the middle of the ocean. A big magic eating sea monster takes the ships? Powerful magic just exploads in deep sea. Spell casters have taken these new mundane ships to the new world (though no one very high yet) and magic items have gone back and forth fine (again nothing of major power) sailors believe that having any Spellcaster on their ship will doom them.

Main powers who have started to settle in this new world.

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Old Empire (Used to own everything but after a bunch of civil wars and the last big war have become greatly reduced in power) LN civ. They would have a lot of Knightly Orders, and Colleges of Magic as well as being the ones to bring about the formation of Warmages.

New Empire (The blokes who split off) LN civ. Big on religion, started off as rebels but then grew and became rather expansionist and started off the last big war. Known for Clerics / Pally's / mages who joined their side.

Sorcerer slavers : LE, these guys are more a bunch of back stabbing lords with large portions of land that are rather inhospitable (ranging from deserts to jungles) they have power because the ruling class are all Sorcerers (or wizards who pretend to be pure blood) also known to have deals with Dragons.

Free Cities (mostly independent city states who group together so they don't get absorbed by the larger empires, also have higher Gnome/Dwarf/Elf populations or settlements nearby. Our heroes come from these cities.

The Players

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Currently we are rather a small gaming group, due to people living too far who would like to play or just not able to meet up at the same times so there is me as DM

A level 6 Deathtouched Warlock, strong focus on UMD and bluff to be a right sneaky little creature. (He was playing a Druid but retired him in the large underground jungle to be talked about later)
A level 6 Human Wizard, focusing feats on crafting as much as possible. Very much keeping his options open.

And two other DMPC's run by me (though the Wizard is up for making a second PC/take one of mine off my hands for less paperwork)

The New World

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So far isn't uninhabited, there are many different small tribes of humans, as well as Goblins, Orcs, Ogres. And littered about the place are ruins of a very powerful magical civilization (Human from what the tribes tell them though the tribes tell newcomers that all these ruins are cursed)

The Humans are often referred to as Barbarian which isn't really very accurate, yes there is a high level of illiteracy they aren't very aggressive (only enough to keep Goblin types from raiding) most are nomadic believing that to settle down in one place and build would bring the curse of the old ones upon them.

The Big Bad

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After a bit of exploring and questing our heroes have found out that all the tribes are afflicted (if that is the right word) by Druids ordering them to Cull a hundred sentient lives.
From what they have found out it works like this: Most tribes look to the druids (who live apart) for guidance and aid (healing and the like since they are very low magic) but every so often a Druid (often in Animal form or in a dream) will order a member of the tribe to go on a "Cull"

Now CG guys go off and die trying to kill 100 Goblins or other evil do-ers
and CE guys often kill anyone they find who is weak. For this reason anyone on a Cull is shunned for fear they are evil.

Now the players only know a little about this as the tribes don't talk about it, they have met a Halfling Necromancer (DMPC) who has been ordered to go on a Cull (He was in a pit in one of these old ruins infested with Goblins) from what they've found out from him is that those who don't obey the Cull are punished, either they drop dead (He himself starts to look sick if the party isn't out slaying things, evil things but still needs to go slaying) or their tribe or loved ones (often exactly 100 people) die or herds become plagued and the tribe exile them.

Also the ones who are chosen to go on a Cull are always those who show promises or have gained power, the brave warrior who has slain a mighty beast, the son of a wealthy tribe who has a way with people and could unite a few tribes under one leader. Basically anyone with a few class levels.

Also there is a cult of the God Hextor, all from the Old World, they seem to be grabbing the Undead from the Ruins of the old ones/doing something downright evil the players just aren't sure.

There have been two of these deep sea ships sunk by "A coast hugging small row boat that came out of an unnatural fog that used magic acid to sink the ship right away"
They are currently looking for this boat now.

Almost forgot: Help needed!

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Right now I've yet to deside if these "Old ones" are fully dead of if they just either left this plane because of some big bad or they moved into Trippyvese style mega cities and left the wilds alone.

The Druids: Are they evil? What reason could they have for wanting this Cull.

Will war brake out: Should I have war brake out between the major powers, or should I just do lots of small scale fights between settlers.

What happens when a person on a Cull kills 100 (One of the players is on one, he became a Deathtouched and a warlock by making a deal with a Necromancer to remove the curse of the cull but woke up with these powers, he was an Expert/Accountent before for a shipping company)

Who is running this evil boat? Priests of Hextor? One of the Nations?

Problems you have with the set up/questions?

Plot holes I really need to sort out?

I'll add more things a bit later

[Fable Wright]

I think I have an idea for this setting...

Enter the Continent's History

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Aeons ago, before the races in the Old World had learned the most basic spells of the land, before the rise of arcane magic in the Old World, there were the Forgotten. This ancient race of aberrations lived only in the Old World, where they were first created. They came into existence as a result of the strange and unusually potent magic of the land, a shifting, pulsing, primal magic that called some beings to a higher state of consciousness, completely in tune with the land. So much in tune, in fact, that they started to merge. Awakened animals of each race, connected to the Radix in the center of the continent's magic, began to merge as a result of the connection, thus resulting in aberrant beasts that were inexplicably still connected to the power of the continent. Many were hunted and killed, but the surviving aberrations slowly became immortal, and started taking on traits of more and more animals, and eventually the shape of magic itself, becoming more and more twisted and betentacled monsters as we imagine them today. Their connection to the Radix was stronger than most, and the Radix began to be less in touch with the continent, and more in touch with the beings it created. Eventually, it left the land entirely, becoming a powerful source of magic for the Forgotten, and the Forgotten only. Creating more of their species through arcane rites, they were growing constantly in power, and started shaping the land itself solely with their minds, creating structures through which they could extend the powers of the Radix, sending their alien and concentrated magic through the world through they leylines they generated. Some people would be born with the leylines attached to their chakras, filling the host with the alien energy, which soon became known as Arcane Magic, and would become powerful wielders of a magic never before seen in the Old World. Some druids, fearing this outbreak of unnatural energy, set off to the New World, to try and put an end to the magic. When they came there, they were horrified at what they found. A race of abberant creatures had built their civilization on the magic that was once a locus of natural energy, and as they investigated, they discovered the reason the temples were being built- the Forgotten sought to stretch the reach of the Radix to the core of magic in the world- and convert it to Arcane Energy like their own, destroying the natural world that the druids had sworn to protect. They had already partially succeeded. A portion of the core had been converted to Arcane Magic, and it would spread of its own accord until the entire core was won over. To stop this, the druids performed an epic ritual to seal the Arcane Magic, though at terrible cost. To pretect the rest of the core of the world, they had to destroy the tainted part, leaving a dead magic zone across the entire continent. The Forgotten, reliant solely on arcane magic for sustenance, had lost a major source of their power, and since they were all connected by their magic, the small amount of remaining energy was split between each member of the race, leading to barely enough energy to keep all of the Forgotten alive. While still immortal and unkillable, they were contained, and the the druids allowed nature to do its work, and bury them and their ruins. Time would pass, and the power of the Radix would begin to grow again, spreading out across the continent, supplying magic like the world once new. However, it was far weaker than the core of the world, and could sustain fewer spellcasters and only lesser magic. In addition, there was still a dead magic zone in between the continent and the rest of the world, and magic powered ships could not power through it; they would steer around it, or be stranded until the crew died of starvation.

Colonization

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Courtesy of the Forgotten's nature, much of the wildlife was filled natural reactants to arcane energy, producing stronger spells and different metamagics. The different flora and fauna, each attuned to different types of arcane magic, all soon became valuable commodities.

Tribes and the Cull

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The different tribes in the New World when magic was sealed in the continent. Many of the druids suffered backlash, losing their memories, and occasionally warping into new forms, like Ogres and Goblins, who soon came to rule the new continent. The druids who remained more or less intact kept their distance from these savage tribes most of the time, as they were transformed by the alien magic. They would but rarely come into contact with them, and only when it was absolutely necessary, garnering an almost mystical respect from the savage tribes. However, not all was right with the new world. As the humanoids flourished, the Druids noticed the Radix growing stronger, especially when powerful members of their races grew to prominence. As it turned out, all sentient races now had their own reservoirs of arcane energy inside of them, attached to the Radix. As the powers of the individual grew, they would generate more natural magic, which protects them from harm and strengthens them. However, on the New World, this strength would also increase the power of the Radix, causing stirrings amongst the lesser kinds of the Forgotten as power flowed back in. To compensate and keep the powers of the Radix in check, the druids instantiated the Cull. Up and coming members of races, especially those with natural buildups of arcane energy, would be called into the Cull, to kill sentient life, and reduce the magic fed to the Radix to balance their new power, and/or die themselves, weakening the Radix. To ensure that the chosen would complete the cull, the druids would perform a rite that would choose someone who threatened the Radix, and then that person's connection the Radix would be cut. The chosen would slowly weaken and die without the connection that helped sustain their growth, and would be forced to kill other living beings to gain energy to sustain their above average arcane metabolism. The result of the Cull would keep the Radix in check- powerful enough to let the druids rule the natural world, but not strong enough to let the Forgotten awaken. When the Cull is completed, the chosen rejoins with the Radix, and their power is strengthened from their time disconnected to it; the link becomes so strong, in fact, that the Chosen is treated as a Forgotten for the purposes of activating and harnessing the power of ruins... leading them to question exactly what the Cull is. Enter an awesome campaign hook.

[White_Drake]

Well not exactly on par with the previous post, but my first thoughts were maybe that the druids aren't evil, but terribly misguided. They are all radicals who will stop at nothing to protect nature. To prevent the rise of another powerful (read destructive) civilization, they prevent any individuals who may be able to lead the tribes out of the darkness from doing so via means of the Cull. This has the added advantage of keeping populations low because of the efforts of these reapers. If anybody actually does succeed in completing the Cull, they induct him into the druidic order. It could be fun to watch the holy wars that ensue when the lawful old worlders attempt to civilize the new world and the druids who kept nature dominant for so long react. It would also be really neat if the force of nature contained some unknown evil like the post above. If you've ever heard of the game Thief, think a sort of Pagan (Druid) v. Hammerite (Old World) type thing, with the party learning of the threat and becoming the keepers (who maintain the balance). To further this you may want to have one of the old world religious orders be defending against a similar evil which the Druids don't know about, but is held in by the force of civilization. This could be really interesting, because the PCs would have to uncover both fanatical orders' secret purposes and force the two factions to quit their warring (which is weakening the prisons of both evil entities) before it is too late.

[Ranting Fool]

@DMofDarkness I like how you've gone full out and thought of good reasons for why the Druids are telling people to go on killing sprees. I have kinda hinted that these "Old Ones" (which are called gallifrey-ians, in case you don't know it's a Doctor Who references) were Human, or at least the few ruins our heroes have been to have had statues of Humans and Bacob (God of Magic) and a few Human-ish undead.

I was toying with the idea that the Druids were ordering the Cull because they were trying to stop anyone from becoming powerful enough to bring the old ones back.

@White_Drake

but my first thoughts were maybe that the druids aren't evil, but terribly misguided.

I've been careful to make the Druids not sound pure evil, they heal people, help crops, make peace treaties between waring tribes, order people to go out and kill 100 other people.

I am planning on having a conflict between the more Chaotic natives vs the mostly Lawful newcomers who seek to take advantage of them. Not quite sure how this conflict will play out. Though I'm leaning towards it starting because the Druids start saying to people "Your cull has to be 100 outlanders" or something along those lines.

[Fable Wright]

@DMofDarkness I like how you've gone full out and thought of good reasons for why the Druids are telling people to go on killing sprees. I have kinda hinted that these "Old Ones" (which are called gallifrey-ians, in case you don't know it's a Doctor Who references) were Human, or at least the few ruins our heroes have been to have had statues of Humans and Bacob (God of Magic) and a few Human-ish undead.

Well, one way to handle that is to have some tribes (now almost extinct from Culls and druid attacks) that worshipped the Forgotten Ones, and were in return granted extraordinary powers over time and space and some of the regenerative powers of the Forgotten, known to some of the most primitive tribes as "Time-Elders," but that may be going a bit too far. Tapping in a little to the power and will of the Forgotten Ones, they started adding to the Great Works, adding foci in the the form of Gods and statues bearing the image of powerful sources of arcane magic, to try to empower the nexus with Divine Magic, or help it encourage the growth of additional magic in humans to power the Nexus. Some of the dead had their internal magic 'regenerate' them into a new (slightly undead) form after their deaths, leading to some undead.

[Ranting Fool]

known to some of the most primitive tribes as "Time-Elders," but that may be going a bit too far.

hehe well thanks for the advice, I've made a few decisions on where my campaign is heading.

The "Long dead" guys aren't so much as trapped in a demi-plane (Anyone able to point me in the right direction of some books/info on demi-planes) since it's been established that those guys were very big on magical research.

Our Heroes have found forges for making constructs in ruins as well as research labs/teaching schools which had things like a tribe of rather CN/TN Goblins left over from a long "Making Goblinoid races smarter" and a series of underground jungles with a "Sun" bringing it all to life (though all the other caves nearby are filled with Undead) also they've come across random places where time acts all wrong.

I know it's the old "They dug too deep and woke something" thing but you can't beat a classic I'm thinking the mage race weakened the barriers between planes in their land and started a war between them and either demons/Devils or any cool outsider/aberration (suggestions) who were drawn to them because of the vast amounts of magic. Then they locked themselves up in a Mega-city or two with they pulled into a demi-plane as a last resort. (I can have some nice adventures in a few very cool magic nuked wastelands) I'm going to have the Demi-Plane time speed set to very slow so for every 100 years in the real world 1 minute happens there or some such. I have time to sort this out as our brave heroes will only find out this in bits and pieces.

Now I need to figure out if the Druids are ordering these "Culls" just because they want to keep populations low and civilizations from putting down more permanent roots or if they are trying to keep people from becoming to powerful/any magic schools being formed (As Wizards tend to need a Lawful to study) because they might bring back the old ones (And their otherworldly enemies) or because the fabric of the universe is damaged around here too many powerful people could draw these otherworldly enemies)

More to think on

[OracleofSilence]

Hrm, well if you want to have the GOO (great old ones) stuck in a demi-plane, the first thing to do is figure out who trapped them, and how. Was it a God? Some high powered cabal of Wizards? Enterprising adventurers of the New World (before it was new)? Or perhaps voluntary hibernation (edit, after rereading your post, it seems like a mix between Wizards, and voluntary).

If it was a God, that imply's a conflict with Divine entities, suggesting Elder Evil status, meaning you have prebuilt rules for their dramatic introduction in the Elder Evils book. (big surprise right?)

If Wizards... What happened to the wizards? They could force immesurably powerful entities to retreat into forced (and possibly permenant isolation), so i don't buy any crap about being a dead civilization, that much power could just get them to blink away from any apocalypse (assuming they could not stop it outright).

If voluntary isolation, how would they view efforts to release them? It sounds silly, but sometimes, the best villian is villian that isn't even trying to be the villian. This is not to suggest their lack of (solve everything with GIANT FROG) chaos and strange evil, just a lack of interest, or great deal of fear.

Finally, does the Old World know? And, if so, how do they react.

I personally would focus more on answering that 1st question, cause it kinda changes the worlds landscape.

[Ranting Fool]

Hrm, well if you want to have the GOO (great old ones) stuck in a demi-plane, the first thing to do is figure out who trapped them, and how. Was it a God? Some high powered cabal of Wizards? Enterprising adventurers of the New World (before it was new)? Or perhaps voluntary hibernation (edit, after rereading your post, it seems like a mix between Wizards, and voluntary).

Well I was kind of leaning towards the "Last ditch attempt by the GOO leaders/powerful casters to stop the city/cities (thinking more one big mega city would work better) from being destroyed by evil Alien X" I tend not to have Gods take an active hand in things.

Am thinking 99% of the old world have any idea about any of this except for maybe a small group focused on getting them back/stopping them from coming back.

[Fable Wright]

hehe well thanks for the advice, I've made a few decisions on where my campaign is heading.

The "Long dead" guys aren't so much as trapped in a demi-plane (Anyone able to point me in the right direction of some books/info on demi-planes) since it's been established that those guys were very big on magical research.

Our Heroes have found forges for making constructs in ruins as well as research labs/teaching schools which had things like a tribe of rather CN/TN Goblins left over from a long "Making Goblinoid races smarter" and a series of underground jungles with a "Sun" bringing it all to life (though all the other caves nearby are filled with Undead) also they've come across random places where time acts all wrong.

I know it's the old "They dug too deep and woke something" thing but you can't beat a classic I'm thinking the mage race weakened the barriers between planes in their land and started a war between them and either demons/Devils or any cool outsider/aberration (suggestions) who were drawn to them because of the vast amounts of magic. Then they locked themselves up in a Mega-city or two with they pulled into a demi-plane as a last resort. (I can have some nice adventures in a few very cool magic nuked wastelands) I'm going to have the Demi-Plane time speed set to very slow so for every 100 years in the real world 1 minute happens there or some such. I have time to sort this out as our brave heroes will only find out this in bits and pieces.

Now I need to figure out if the Druids are ordering these "Culls" just because they want to keep populations low and civilizations from putting down more permanent roots or if they are trying to keep people from becoming to powerful/any magic schools being formed (As Wizards tend to need a Lawful to study) because they might bring back the old ones (And their otherworldly enemies) or because the fabric of the universe is damaged around here too many powerful people could draw these otherworldly enemies)

More to think on

Alright, so the Sun = the Radix, or equivalent source of power...

As for what to do here... I think that having the entities that the mage race fought should be from the Far Realms. This would explain a lot about everything. They had drawn in some energy from the far realms, which started their mutation, but after their magic evolved it started to draw more on more on the Far Realms as a source. To save themselves and existence, the GOOs left to a separate demiplane, with its own energy source that the Far Realms wouldn't draw on. They set the demiplane to return them to the material plane when enough soul energy (XP) was accumulated on the island they left from; the druids knew this, and so started the Culls to kill off powerful people who might upset the balance, kill off pests, and decrease the soul energy in general on the continent, to prevent the Gate that would return the GOOs from returning with their aberrant magic that would draw the Far Realms once more... and of course they were the only ones who knew about it, as they were the only humanoids who cared to investigate at the time. How does that sound?

A good source of information on the Far Realms would be Dragon #330, which had an article about it.