Campaign World: Alternate Early Modern Earth

[Judge_Worm]

Campaign World: Earth

"This new fashion of the lesser races, to use powder instead of power to create an explosion.. I must say, I do not like it. It is too brutish too ugly, where is the art, the grace?"
-The Drow Queen, Empress Victorianna Windsword

"Them elves don't understand modern warfare, in the same time time it takes a wizard to cast prestidigitation to clean off his buddy's blood, I've already unloaded another 200 rounds."
-Orcish Field Marshall Rummel

Takes place in 3 eras, each lasting 500 years.
19th Era, a time of turmoil as some races(Humans, Goblins, Orcs) begin to implement gunpowder into more military roles, while others (Elves, Yuan-Ti, Gnomes) spurn these new firearms and attempt to forge and maintain empires with pure arcane might.
20th Era, the entire world descends into chaos as firearms begin to surpass magic in power, and a new monotheistic begins spreading from Kobold lands.
21st Era, the old world powers find themselves being overcome by new world powers, human, orc, and goblin scientists begin racing to develop a weapon that could destroy a god with a single shot.

Spoiler

Show

19th Era- Corresponds to the Victorian era, from 1837 to 1901
20th Era- Corresponds to the time from the end of the Victorian era to the beginning of WWII, from 1901 to 1936.
21st Era- Corresponds to the time from the Great Depression to the Vietnam War, from 1936 to 1976.

Major Races

Elves-
The Empire so to speak. In the 17th era the elves began to colonize the New World. By the 18th era the native humans rebelled, a minor blotch on an otherwise perfect record. At the dawn of the 19th era the Drow Queen took the throne. And soon all the world feared the elven navy. She built an empire on which the sun will never set. The 20th era was par for the course, although the empire was shaken by this new "gunpowder" epidemic that was spreading across the world. By the 21st century the arcane elven might wasn't enough to hold back the orcs or the humans as the hail of bullets threatened even even their native Britannia.

Humans-
Enslaved by elves for centuries the humans eventually rebelled. With a rabble of so called soldiers, the humans used a new invention to pull victory from an impossible fight. By the end of the fighting half of humanity was extinct, and half again as many of their ages old protectors- the treants. This began a grudge that would never end, not a grudge against elves, but a grudge against the belief of superiority, a race wide case of Tall-Poppy Syndrome. Humans are proud to count amongst their numbers any number of half breeds, including half-elves. Humans spent most of their time recovering lost territory. In the 21st era humans started research into a new technology that could tear apart the very building blocks of materia, the idea was first brought to them by scientists fleeing the orcish terror.

Yuan-Ti-
The xenophobic yuan-ti are known to be powerful spellcasters. It is with surprise then that the yuan-ti would jump on the firearm bandwagon in the 21st era. The yuan-ti believe it is their destiny to rule the Pacific.

Orcs-
Only ever united by strong leaders. Once united however the orcish war machine is something to fear. Especially now that the orcs have reinforced their pitiful arcane power with firepower.

Gnomes-
Left with a vestigial empire. They founded the Gnoman Empire and so began the system of eras. With the first day of the first year of the first era referring to the founding of the Senate and People of Gnome (Gnoman Empire) by Julioctaviaugusaesar. The empire would grow to control most of Europe, only failing to conquer the dwarves, giants, drow, and orcs. Orc barbarians would eventually sack the city of Gnome itself, causing the collapse of the Western Empire. Emperor Konconstanantinetinos managed to hold off the orcs for centuries until the orcs eventually grew bored and gave up.

Goblins-
The poor destitute race of Eastern Europe, or atleast they used to be. But if goblins are good at anything it is their ability to adapt. In the 19th era they were a poor backwards empire. In the 20th era they were a world power to be reckoned with. They had the ability to produce cheap quick guns, and equip these guns with a nearly unlimited reserve of soldiers. In the 21st era they managed to steal plans critical to the creation of an awesomely powerful weapon from humans. This allowed them to join the race for the so called "Megaweapon."

Dwarves-
The stout people of Western Europe, dwarves have for ages fought countless border wars against the orcs. They've even managed to form a rivalry with the elves, however dwarves are not arcane spellmasters, so they have to compete with raw determination. Dwarven armies march onto battlefields the same way they have for eras, in heavy armor and heavy weapons. Dwarves once colonized the areas of Quebec and the Louisiana. Dwarves were primarily miners, fur trappers and traders in these territories. They honored the human preservation of nature the best they could and eventually, peacefully handed sovereignty of their colonies back to humans. After the fall of the Dragon Emperor, dwarves colonized Indochina.

[Judge_Worm]

Minor Races(so far)

Giants-
Giants live far to the North. The ice and cold of Scandinavia suites them fine. Although once feared as raiders and savages, then admired as colonizers, the dwarves have begun a long decline they are doubtful to ever recover from. In the late 19th era the elves take their North American colonies by force. In the 20th era they mostly stayed neutral and abstained from outside events. In the 21st era their homeland was attacked and invaded by orcs.


Draconians-
The ancient Heavenly Dragon Emperor was brutally slain by Yuan-Ti insurgents towards the end of the 19th era. With the fall of the 30,000 year old gold dragon, so fell his 10,000 year long empire.

Kobolds-
The desert dwelling kobolds managed to stay irrelevant through most of history. That is until Aster Zor had his divine revelation, and the religion of the One-and-Only took root and spread like wildfire, even taking hold of many gnomes and the psionic races of Africa.

Troglodytes-
Natives of South America.

Grippli-
Natives of the Amazon.


Illumians-
Dwell in the dark heart of Africa.

Thri-Keen-
Occupy East Africa.

Halflings-
Used to rule a huge colonial empire until it imploded. Stories exist of sunken treasure fleets.

Halffolk-
A race that came about from the mixing of halfling conquerors and lizardfolk natives.

Lizardfolk-
Natives of Central America. Had the largest and most advanced empire in the New World prior to the halfling colonization.

Tieflings and Aasimar-
Outsiders that occupy part of Western Europe. Old rivals to the elves.

Merfolk, Suahagin, Deep-Ones, Aquatic (_____), and Nixies-
Live under the waves and rarely interfere with the surface world. Suahagin are slaves to the deep-ones who wish to awaken/resurrect their god/king Dagon. Merfolk and nixies worry about the amount of filth the surface races are dumping into the planet's seas and streams. Aquatic variations of surface races mostly keep to themselves.

Edit:
New Races

Gekkotas- Gecko like tree dwellers, prehensile tails for climbing

Dilicros (name in progress)- Crocodilian shore dwellers, use tail to stand upright. Very large, and slow on land, faster in water.

Rotagillas (name in progress)- Similar to Dilicros except smaller and better suited for bipedal movement, still keen swimmers.

Meantes- Live underwater in swamps, bogs, marshes, and sometimes shaded streams or rivers. Breathe air, but can survive without breathing for up to a week. Will die if dried out. Small size, no hindlimbs, long eel like lower half.

Wevveans- A mysterious race living deep in Antarctica.

Forsteri- Black and white feathered humanoids. Spend most their time in water. Live on the coasts of Antarctica.

[TheTeaMustFlow]

Given that the British Empire rose to the heights of it's power based on technology (i.e. the Industrial Revolution) and declined due to political, rather than technological, concerns, British Empire As Elves seems a poor fit. I'd say elves would work better as feudal nations (which Britain wasn't by this era), such as Tsarist Russia, the Ottoman Empire or the Kingdom of Spain - elite, divinely appointed leaders who once ruled the world, but are now being displaced by democratic or populist-autocratic regimes. Anyway, I just can't see Britain as elves. Industrial Revolutions, Capitalism, Parliaments, Maxim Guns, Dreadnoughts, the first Tanks, Fish and Chips: none of these seem like elvish things.

[Judge_Worm]

Given that the British Empire rose to the heights of it's power based on technology (i.e. the Industrial Revolution) and declined due to political, rather than technological, concerns, British Empire As Elves seems a poor fit. I'd say elves would work better as feudal nations (which Britain wasn't by this era), such as Tsarist Russia, the Ottoman Empire or the Kingdom of Spain - elite, divinely appointed leaders who once ruled the world, but are now being displaced by democratic or populist-autocratic regimes. Anyway, I just can't see Britain as elves. Industrial Revolutions, Capitalism, Parliaments, Maxim Guns, Dreadnoughts, the first Tanks, Fish and Chips: none of these seem like elvish things.

It really doesn't. Part of the reason I shoved elves in this spot, to be different. Druid Native American Humans with guns opposed to Wizard British Elves with powerful magic just seemed liked too odd of a matchup to not use. Originally I had humans as the British and elves as the N. Americans, but then decided to give the natives guns and switch the whole thing around. It now has a duality I like, humans of the New World with their guns and tree worshipping (representing NEW) vs elves of the Old World with their raw arcane might (representing OLD). If anything I messed with the British Empire by taking away their technological advantage (which I really didn't, elves use magic to replicate modernish technologies like radio communication and flying ships [both of which I'm still working on]), the Empire here is also Lawful Good as opposed to humanity's True Neutral, or the Yuan-Ti Chaotic Evil.

In other news, got languages (mostly) sorted out.
Race:Language
Elves: Common (Elven spoken only rarely by the Upperclass)
Humans: Druidic (its a cultural thing)/Treant
Kobolds: Gnome
Gnome: Gnome
Giants: Giant
Dwarves: Dwarven
Draconians: Draconic
Halflings: Halfling
Various reptilian races: Halfling/ local tribal language
Yuan-Ti: Draconic (heavily accented) Yuan-Ti
Orcs: Orcish
Trolls/Ogres: Orcish/ Giant
Goblinoids: Goblin
African races: N/A (communicate through telepathy) Illithid spoken
Wevveans: Old Draconic

In the East: Draconic is the language of trade, in the 20th and 21st Eras some might also speak Dwarven. Common is becoming more popular, and Yuan-Ti traders and diplomats usually learn Halfling.

In the West: Common is the language of trade. Humans usually know Druidic, Common, and Treant, some also learn various other languages the most common of which are Giant, Orcish, and Dwarven, a few know Elven or Halfling. The non-human races of Central America usually learn Orcish or Halfling. The races of South America usually speak a local or tribal language and Halfling. In Europe many scholars learn Gnome.

Africa: Illithid is the common language, most communicate telepathically. Most Africans can speak a language as long as the person their speaking to has an open enough mind they can "borrow " the language from, only the most powerful Psions actually learn a language this way.

Antarctica: Old Draconic is spoken here, Old Draconic is similar to Draconic, but only true dragons can understand it, and only Draconic spoken by true dragons is intelligible to speakers of Old Draconic.

[ShadowBornDM]

First off I love the idea behind the setting and flavor wise it is amazing.

The elves being Britain make sense from the imperialistic old ways. Especially like the drow queen ruling over.the elves. It's a nice touch.

The humans being Druidic and embracing the new technology remind me of the native Americans. It's an amazing setting so far and I for one can't wait to see more

[Judge_Worm]

FLAVOR

Elven magozoologist/sylvanologist Charwin in the Creation of Species-
"Whereas many believe that deities, trees, or what have you created the various races of sentient beings on this planet... and not to offend my own people who 'know' we came from a higher plane... as I have come to discover that all life might have a single origin."
"I have divided the intelligent species into five distinct groups and one inclusive group."
"The first group is the Greater Sylvamorphs containing all Elves, Gnomes, and Halflings. Half-Elves not considered due to the instability of their mixed blood."
"The second group being Lesser Sylvamorphs, and contains are more beastly brethren the Orcs, and Goblinoids. The Trolls and Ogres belong to this group or the Humanoid group, and are most likely the link from which Humans came from Orcs."
"The third grouping is the Humanoids. All varieties of Humans, Dwarves, and Giants can be found in this group. As was written in the last chapter about Ogres and Trolls applies here as well. Once more, I bring up the point of Half-Elves..."
"The fourth group are the Reptilian races of South America of which little is known... ... I dare not risk my own life to learn of these cannibals."
"The fifth, and perhaps most fascinating group is the Draconian one... ...containing many diverse races and the Dragons themselves."
"All those that have not been covered fall into the final group of Erratica. This group includes mostly the psychic races."
"Addendum: There are a few, such as the Aasimari and Tieflings that have no grouping whatsoever, for they are in fact not native to this plane."

"Whatever doesn't kill you, must die!"
"It is not a question of Orcish superiority, but an answer."
"...And I told him, 'No, I will not spare your life!'"
"I admire anyone brave or foolish enough to commit treason, they are braver than I."
"The most useful Ogre I ever met was the one I slept inside of on the Eastern front."
"Horses and Ogres are vary similar, they carry your rations, and when you run out, they provide them."
"My mother-in-law was a very annoying woman, now she's much more amicable. I still have her tongue around here somewhere."
"I used to be a child, then I killed my first Goblin, later I hit puberty."
"Use the rifle first, then the bayonet, then the pistol, then the axe, then the knife, then your bare hands, then your legs, then your teeth, then the diseases of your rotting corpses."
"I once met a man who told me the world was full of life, I want you maggots to fix that!"
"If you shoot yourself in the foot let your commanding officer know so we can deduct the bullet from your pay."
"I won't shoot you if you surrender or retreat. There will be no retribution YOU will face. I will instead put your wives to work on the street, your husbands to work on the front lines, your boy children to work in the mines, your girl children to work in the factories, and your parents to work in the shooting range as targets."
- Fieldmarshall Rom, collected from various prebattle speeches

"There is but one and only one true God, and that God knows the wicked from the good, and the tiller from the mule. Do not think you can trick the One-And-Only, he listens not to the prayers of the insecere."
-The Prophet Aster-Zor

THE ELDEST WYRMS

The six Eldest Wyrms each occup(y/ied) a hemisphere of Earth. Many thousands of years ago they made a pact to divide up the Earth into sixths. It is said each one of these dragons could be mistaken for mountains, each one over 5 miles long, with talons the size of giants.

North Western (North America)- Ooganku the Green Dragon. Ooganku's love of nature overrode his evil tendencies. It is believed that this is why humans are so close to nature, it is the only way they survived. Ooganku was slain by the elves late in the 16th Era while they were colonizing his territory.

Far North (The Arctic)- Ryfsny the white dragon. Ryfsny only likes two things, her realm and wealth. As such he typically leaves native life of her domain alone. Humans pay her a huge amount of valuables to leave non-native humans alone.

South Western (South America)- Aztoatl the blue dragon. Aztoatl was the weakest of the six Eldest Wyrms and had the last pick of territory, unlucky for him that territory had none of the desert he loved so much. Aztoatl has been called on numerous times by the natives of his realm, each time he has answered, usually by striking said summoner with lightning.

South Eastern (Indian Ocean)- Khodha the bronze dragon. Khodha lives under the waves in the Indian Ocean and rarely deals with the surface part of her domain, much like other dragons typically ignore the ocean part of their domains. She hasn't been spotted since the 14th Era.

Far South (Antarctica)- Wevve the copper dragon. When Wevve first chose Antarctica it was full of life, if a bit frozen. She didn't care, because her favorite prankster lived there. Wevve died millennia ago when she shared her lifespan with her husband. Some think her descendants still live on in the great frozen desert.

North East (Eurasia)- The Imperial Heavenly Gold Dragon Qin Long. Qin Long forged an Empire for all dragons and draconians ages ago. He was brutally slain by Yuan-Ti assassins in the 20th Era. His 10,000 year empire went into steep decline and anarchy after his death. His vast horde (a literal gold mountain) plundered.

[Composer99]

Given that the British Empire rose to the heights of it's power based on technology (i.e. the Industrial Revolution) and declined due to political, rather than technological, concerns, British Empire As Elves seems a poor fit. I'd say elves would work better as feudal nations (which Britain wasn't by this era), such as Tsarist Russia, the Ottoman Empire or the Kingdom of Spain - elite, divinely appointed leaders who once ruled the world, but are now being displaced by democratic or populist-autocratic regimes. Anyway, I just can't see Britain as elves. Industrial Revolutions, Capitalism, Parliaments, Maxim Guns, Dreadnoughts, the first Tanks, Fish and Chips: none of these seem like elvish things.

I would think that magical power would be just as potent a force for imperial hegemony in a fantastic Earth setting as the synergy of technological and economic power is in the real Earth.

[rg9000]

Where do clerics and religion fit in.

[Judge_Worm]

Where do clerics and religion fit in.

Short answer: Everywhere.
Long answer: It varies by culture the religion of prophet Aster-Zor is the first major monotheistic one, mostly because I wanted a caliphate in an industrial setting. As such the One-And-Only, the supreme God, creator of all, is a powerful force, or would be if it wanted to be, but maybe it doesn't, I'm leaving that up in the air. But according to Aster-Zor (whom I'm still fleshing out as a very important NPC) this supreme god is only now "waking up" from his(her? gender is hard to define for one who is by definition all) rest after creation. In that amount of time (billions or trillions of years) other "gods" who are finite, and even mortal at one point, have taken over the whole divine shindig. And most clerics get their domains and spells from them. There are here two notable exceptions; the psionicly gifted races are typically atheists and pull their domains and spells from inside their own mind, and worshippers of the One-And-Only who choose any two domains and can be of any alignment these people actually receive their spells from Aster-Zor a mortal himself.
As for pantheons, they are wildly varied, and all gods divvy up their spheres with no overlap, for instance Anubis is god of the dead, while Thanatos is the god of death, and Odin holds dominion over the souls of the dead before they leave the material world, Hades takes over after they leave the material world but before they pass onto an appropriate afterlife, which might be sending them back to Odin in Valhalla! Of course the average person, even the average cleric doesn't realize this. And pantheon s still remain separated and are venerated separately. But sometimes Enki and Athena match wits in a game if chess. The pantheons for this setting are mostly real world and are based in the same geographic area, they are: Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Hindu, Buddhist (no clerics or adepts), Shinto, Greek/Roman, D&D standard (Elves and Halflings), Animism (Humans), Mesoamerican (in South America), Atheism, and the worship of the Eldest Wyrms. Goblins don't have a pantheon yet (I don't feel like doing the Slavic one myself, the others I can borrow from other sources) and will probably use the Greek or Norse one, or none, or maybe they worship Devils and Archons? Dunno, I'll deal with it later.

[Malachi Lemont]

Nice work so far, Judge Worm. This project has drawn my interest. I like settings that bring together history and fantasy to form an original, but familiar world.

I tried making a map for this setting to show which races inhabited which parts of the world. But I was unable to finish because I have too many unanswered questions. For example:

What is going on in France? Does it have its own "race," or is it a mixture of the cultures that surround it. We have British elves to the north, Spanish halflings to the south, and German orcs to the east. France was a powerful nation in the 19th century, not quite on par with Britain, but still formidable. If this setting is meant to parallel history, the French need to be included.

I also found myself with quite a few empty spaces in Asia waiting to be filled in. The Draconians seem to be located in China, and the Yuan-Ti must be Japan. But what about India? Southeast Asia? Persia? Turkey? The central Asian steppes? All of these places need to be populated.

There were other world-building decisions that puzzled me, and I think they could use clarification. If the "eras" each represent 30-60 years of history, why do they each last 500 years in-universe? History can't just be sped up or slowed down on a whim. For example, a driving factor in the Allies' hesitancy to stop Hitler in the 1930s was because of the fresh memories of World War I. If the two world wars are spaced out two much, they will seem completely unrelated, rather than the second being influenced by the first.

That brings me to my overarching question: Exactly how closely does this world's history parallel that of the real world during the 19th and 20th centuries? In other words, are you trying to refurnish history with a thin layer of D&D fantasy, or are you trying to create an entirely new world and use it as a loose analogy. Either one is fine, but I would like to know what your goal is for this setting so that I can tailor my questions toward it.

Anyway, thanks for sharing your ideas with us. I look forward to reading what else you have in mind!

[rlc]

Obligatory "that's racist!" post.
Anyway, in all seriousness, I love it. Maybe I'll steal it, with tweaks.

Given that the British Empire rose to the heights of it's power based on technology (i.e. the Industrial Revolution) and declined due to political, rather than technological, concerns, British Empire As Elves seems a poor fit. I'd say elves would work better as feudal nations (which Britain wasn't by this era), such as Tsarist Russia, the Ottoman Empire or the Kingdom of Spain - elite, divinely appointed leaders who once ruled the world, but are now being displaced by democratic or populist-autocratic regimes. Anyway, I just can't see Britain as elves. Industrial Revolutions, Capitalism, Parliaments, Maxim Guns, Dreadnoughts, the first Tanks, Fish and Chips: none of these seem like elvish things.

Well, a lot of things don't fit. Like gnomes as Romans. Or halflings as conquerors at all. Or New Worlders discovering gunpowder. Or a Chinese dynasty lasting more than a few hundred years. Or any number of other things. But, all of this is why it's called "alternate." The names of places can always be considered placeholders and changed to fantasy-sounding names.

[Judge_Worm]

Nice work so far, Judge Worm. This project has drawn my interest. I like settings that bring together history and fantasy to form an original, but familiar world.

I tried making a map for this setting to show which races inhabited which parts of the world. But I was unable to finish because I have too many unanswered questions. For example:

What is going on in France? Does it have its own "race," or is it a mixture of the cultures that surround it. We have British elves to the north, Spanish halflings to the south, and German orcs to the east. France was a powerful nation in the 19th century, not quite on par with Britain, but still formidable. If this setting is meant to parallel history, the French need to be included.

I also found myself with quite a few empty spaces in Asia waiting to be filled in. The Draconians seem to be located in China, and the Yuan-Ti must be Japan. But what about India? Southeast Asia? Persia? Turkey? The central Asian steppes? All of these places need to be populated.

There were other world-building decisions that puzzled me, and I think they could use clarification. If the "eras" each represent 30-60 years of history, why do they each last 500 years in-universe? History can't just be sped up or slowed down on a whim. For example, a driving factor in the Allies' hesitancy to stop Hitler in the 1930s was because of the fresh memories of World War I. If the two world wars are spaced out two much, they will seem completely unrelated, rather than the second being influenced by the first.

That brings me to my overarching question: Exactly how closely does this world's history parallel that of the real world during the 19th and 20th centuries? In other words, are you trying to refurnish history with a thin layer of D&D fantasy, or are you trying to create an entirely new world and use it as a loose analogy. Either one is fine, but I would like to know what your goal is for this setting so that I can tailor my questions toward it.

Anyway, thanks for sharing your ideas with us. I look forward to reading what else you have in mind!

About France, I dunno right now. It's sort of an outsider colony right now, of Aasimar, Tieflings, and Mephlings. But I don't like that. Maybe Halflings/Gnomes?
Mongolia, Korea, Tibet/Himalayas, China, and Indochina are all occupied by various Draconian races, and loosely ruled by the Gold Dragon Emperor (maintaining an empire for ten thousand years helps stabilize its ginormous size, which is why it instantly fell into anarchy after his death). From the Arabian peninsula to the mountains of Afghanistan is all Kobolds, Eastern Kobolds (Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan etc.) are winged. India is undecided (Hengeyoki?) Pacific Islands and Oceania are undecided.

Eras being 500 years; the march of technology is sloooow when magic can do the same thing cheaper, quicker, and more reliably. As far as mimicking real world events, this is actually 3 campaign settings, each era is only getting set up and then left alone. This is so I can leave major events up to PC's, maybe the PC's start WWVII or prevent WWIII, maybe they detonate the first nuke because they didn't know what that button did. In general though each Era loosely follows actual Earth history, except where it has been forcibly changed (Byzantine Empire still around, the Caliphate/Monotheism just starting, Indoamericans defeating colonists, no transatlantic slave trade, thousand year empires, etc.)

Gunpowder and Gnomes and Centamillenial Dragons; About gnomes, I just like saying Gnoman Empire, go ahead, say it one time out loud. American natives didn't invent gunpowder itself, that honor belongs to draconians that wanted to put pretty lights in the sky. Kobolds or Gnomes probably invented guns (I haven't decided yet), how humans got them is the real mystery (yes its a plothook I'm reserving). As for a single Chinese Dynasty Emperor lasting 10,000 years? He's strong enough to OHKO lesser deities, that and he's a Great Wyrm 100x over, even a CE barbarian with an int of 3 isn't suicidal or stupid enough to challenge him (but the Yuan-Ti are? No not really, the Yuan-Ti are cunning and suicidal enough to succeed). The Eldest Wyrms don't really do anything, but I tried statting one out, I gave up at spellcasting level 40, if I remember correctly it had some +30 CON modifier, so I tossed that stats out, if a DM wants his PC's to fight it, they can stat it. Either way, they CAN be killed, both the Elves and Yuan-Ti have done it (the Elves through horrendous amounts of sacrifice, the Yuan-Ti through deception and stealth).

[rlc]

Gunpowder and Gnomes and Centamillenial Dragons; About gnomes, I just like saying Gnoman Empire, go ahead, say it one time out loud. American natives didn't invent gunpowder itself, that honor belongs to draconians that wanted to put pretty lights in the sky. Kobolds or Gnomes probably invented guns (I haven't decided yet), how humans got them is the real mystery (yes its a plothook I'm reserving). As for a single Chinese Dynasty Emperor lasting 10,000 years? He's strong enough to OHKO lesser deities, that and he's a Great Wyrm 100x over, even a CE barbarian with an int of 3 isn't suicidal or stupid enough to challenge him (but the Yuan-Ti are? No not really, the Yuan-Ti are cunning and suicidal enough to succeed). The Eldest Wyrms don't really do anything, but I tried statting one out, I gave up at spellcasting level 40, if I remember correctly it had some +30 CON modifier, so I tossed that stats out, if a DM wants his PC's to fight it, they can stat it. Either way, they CAN be killed, both the Elves and Yuan-Ti have done it (the Elves through horrendous amounts of sacrifice, the Yuan-Ti through deception and stealth).

Oh, I get all of that, but thanks for clearing up the gunpowder invention question. I was using it all as examples of why one thing really isn't that huge when there are plenty of other things that, using normal mythology, might not make sense, but it's your world. If you want Indians to all have four arms like the goddess Kali, or kobolds to have wings, that's your decision, because it's your world.
And, trust me, I have been sayng "Gnoman Empire." A lot. It makes me giggle.

[rg9000]

Is the white dragon male or female?

Far North (The Arctic)- Ryfsny the white dragon. Ryfsny only likes two things, her realm and wealth. As such he typically leaves native life of her domain alone. Humans pay her a huge amount of valuables to leave non-native humans alone.

[rlc]

and a bump

[Stellar_Magic]

This world is strange... I'm sorely tempted to make one similar to it that associates the races with their mythological backgrounds... This setting though doesn't do that.

At all.

The only place that seems to really have their native mythical beings, is the bloody English who at least have Elves. Let me just go through the races and mention where they lived according to the mythology.

Just skimming through the pathfinder races and putting them where they belong... You get this.

Bugbears are native to England, Wales, Denmark, and Northern Germany.

Dhampirs are native to any environment with a vampire population, but are most often associated with Romania and the Balkans.

'True' Dragons are from Europe primarily, though 'Imperial' Dragons are from China and their neighbors.

Drow come from the Shetlands, Orkneys, and Scandinavia. They are called different names in each area.

Duergar are native to Scandinavia, where they are referred to as the 'black' dwarves.

Dwarves are native to Scandinavia with a few scattered Dwarven populations in England.

Elves are native to Scandinavia, England, Northern, and Western Europe. Traditionally they live in realms magically protected and their longevity is not due to slow aging but how time passes much slower in their realms.

Goblins dominate the mythology of Europe, with myths talking of them ranging as far east as Moldova and Estonia. They quite simply are everywhere, though their greatest density lies in England and France.

Gnolls are African.

Gnomes are first described by Paracelsus, a swiss alchemist. Ergo, they are swiss.

Halflings are native to Scotland, Ireland, and Newfoundland.

Hobgoblins are almost exclusively English.

Ifrit are Arab in origin.

Kitsune, Tengu, Oni, and Wayang are Japanese.

Kobolds are... GERMAN! Beware the lethal efficiency of the kobold panzer divisions!

Merfolk are a global phenomenon.

Nagaji are Indian.

Orcs are Scandinavian in origin (sort of... Thank J.R.R. Tolkien)

Oreads are Greek.

Samsarans can be found throughout Asia, though they are primarily found in India, Tibet, and China.

Sylphs are... well Paracelsus again, but should be widespread as air spirits.

Strix are Roman.

Suli are Arab.

Vanara are Indian.

Vishkanya are Indian.

Undine are elementals that are created by alchemists, and therefore can exist anywhere.