The Kingdom of Rah [Open for Comments]

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The setting is now open for review, but I know I am missing some information. Ask me about the setting, review it, criticize, or whatever. I'm going to polish this setting up a bit and then do some runs in it.

In case it's not clear, the BBEG in this setting is "The Swamp." Also, does anyone want to draw me a map, if I describe the world map to you?

Index:

1. Index
2. Change Log
3. Common Knowledge Historical Overview: Part 1, The Benighted Years
4. Common Knowledge Historical Overview: Part 2, Aldrick Rah
5. The Races
6. Artifacts of the Races
7. Religion among the Races
8. Food, Language and Music among the Races
9. Factions: Radiant Dawn
10. Factions: Others
11. In-Game statistics
12. Other Races and Possible Expansions
13. Special Notes on Magic
14. Government
15. Gods

More coming. My hand written notes about this place are over 70 pages long, bear with me while I convert and update them. Many of my pages were lost to water damages from a flood, but I retain the knowledge of the setting in my mind.

Spoiler: Note Repository

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Spoiler: Music

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Wyld Elven Music is strange. Most people find it frightening.
Other Elven music is very light, and uplifting.
Human Music is stolen from the elves and the dwarfs. So is most human culture.
Dwarven Music, but dwarven music varies as wildly as their stories and lore. They favor wind, string and drum sounds in equal measure.

Also, here is other music that is important.

Spoiler: Language

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Humans speak a language that is most similar to ancient Latin.
Elves speak a language that is most similar to Portuguese.
Dwarves speak a language that is most similar to Dutch.

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Changelog:

• 9/19/2014: Thread Started. Common Knowledge History Added.
• 9/19/2014: Races added. Artifacts Added. Religion Added.
• 9/20/2014: Factions added.
• 9/22/2014: Music, Languages and Food added.
• 9/25/2014: Ban list under In-Game Stats added. Other Races and Possible Expansions added. Special Notes on Magic Added: includes the schools of magic and polymorph and plane shift.
• 9/27/2014: Added more on the Radiant Dawn to expand on that faction. Added A day in the Life for Researchers, Instructors and Inquisitors.
• 9/29/2014: Added: Government and Politics, Gods. Updated Common Knowledge History to include how modern human settles work.

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Common Knowledge History: The Benighted Years

In a not overly distant past, the world was very different than modern times. Humans warred with each other, violent and dangerous. Tribes of man were often no more than 50 people, growing with the capture of smaller tribes, and shrinking with the deaths of their people. For as long as anyone knew, humans always fought over the land and resources of the world. As primitive as they were, the only resources they cared for were water and food, but occasionally one group or another would declare a spot holy and fight to the man to defend it from rival tribes.

The declaration of a holy spot was often taken as a challenge to nearby tribes, who raced to be the one to steal it from the zealous defenders. Life was bloody, and short for mankind. They stayed away from the tallest mountain, where there were known to be dwarven hordes hiding. They ventured into the forests warily, to hunt, as the elves were stealthy and often innumerable. So, with no large landmarks to call home, they battled it out over the plains that comprised the bulk of the world.

Deep to the south were swamps, but dangerous monsters lurked within that unholy place, and humans never entered and only cooperated with other tribes long enough to slaughter anything that came from the terrifying place of evil.

For the most part, the dwarfs were content to live in their mountains, or even the rare cave. They were smaller in number than the humans, but they banded together against the ravages of the human wars. They kept to themselves in the earthen ancestral homes, fending off human raids. Occasionally human would raid the dwarfs for food, but more often, they raided the dwarfs for their well-kept secret weapons: blades of iron. Humans had no forges, or no idea how to build such things. Their tools were wooden or made from stone or bones. The metallic weapons they stole from the dwarfs made their owners valuable and powerful warriors. Of course these weapons broke in combat at times, but they lasted far longer than other weapons could.

The elves on the other hand, hid in their forests for other reasons. The northern tribe and eastern tribe fought with each other rarely, but the life of an elf was often filled more with spiritual missions than anything else. Food was plentiful in the forests, and the little magic they could conjure made the innermost groves always rich with fruit, year round. They had little use for fighting, as their magic scared off humans for the most part, but their knowledge of the land also made them suited for ambush hit and run tactics that decimated any human invasions. And because the food laden groves were in the deeper parts of the forest, the humans had no knowledge of them, and thus no desire to battle with the elves for territory.

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Common Knowledge History: Aldrick Rah

The times had to change, however. Little did they know it, and only a few speculate about now, but it was the elves who brought about this change. Their fear of mankind lead to man being an important figure in the lives of elves, and with all important elements of life, mankind was given a deity and this deity received some amount of worship. Many elves believed that worshiping the god of man would be akin to worshiping the god of fire, or the god of plague; namely that worshiping this god would prevent a natural disaster.

This God was named Kirik, and his worship woke him as a being made to change mankind from its violent ways. When he awoke, he was weak, but as time went on the humans grew more violent and dangerous, and thus the elves begged Kirik to save them. With this greater worship, Kirik grew to surpass most other gods. Soon, he felt a great power within himself, and with this new power he gained a greater understanding of the universe, far greater than any other God before him. With this, he twisted and warped reality, and made an edge so sharp, it would hew through bone like it was leather. He created a mighty and powerful blade from this edge and looked upon the world for the greatest of all men. He found a intelligent swordmaster whose careful strategies had led his smaller, and weaker tribe to victory countless times, but whose was at the end. The mightiest of tribes had taken offense to this puny tribe and started a blood feud.

This swordmaster was Aldrick Rah, the first of the Great Kings. When he was approached by Kirik, and given the Blade of Kings, Aldrick was touched by the divine, and granted great power himself. Alone, he stood before the angry horde of his enemies and danced with death. At the end of things, fifty dead men lay littered around the bloodiest battlefield known to that time, and alone Aldrick stood. Kirik told Aldrick to unite the human tribes under one banner, and bring about an era of peace.

Few would do battle with a man known to have slain countless foes, and it was not long before all the world of man surrendered to the might of Rah. Mankind began to worship Aldrick, but Kirik stepped forward, and Aldrick bent his knee to the true god of mankind. This was the moment that began the new era: the Era of Rah. It has been 18 generations since that time, and the world is changed.

With the humans united, the dwarfs had no chance to defeat them in battle, and they surrendered quickly. They were fortunate that the humans held little ill will for them, and the dwarfs were made into a sort of working class for the humans. The dwarfs had large structures they had built within their deep homes, and the humans forced the dwarfs into slave labor to build for them many stone buildings. When the humans were content, and had learned the art of masonry and metalworking, the dwarfs were freed from their pseudo-envlsavement. In truth, the dwarfs were forced to work, but were otherwise free. No human claimed any right or ownership over a dwarf, but the leaders of men felt they had equal right to command dwarfs as they did their own men.

However, the elves were feared by man. Man raised a mighty army and prepared to eliminate the dangerous forest-dwelling witches, but Kirik forbade it, and instead told them that the elves were to be treated with the same respect as man. Kirik knew that the elves had given him life, and many consider the debt settled now. It is clear the humans would have easily wiped elfkind off the face of the world were it not for Kirik.

All the people of the plains, forests and mountains united, Aldrick built for himself a great city, a dwarven fortress town built above ground rather than below it. It named it "The City of Empire of Man, Elf and Dwarf" but it has since been renamed "Imperial City."

Since this time, no other cities have been built, but small villages are scattered around. Primarily the villages are nearby resources and water supplies, and exist for once purpose, such as lumber villages, farming villages, or fishing villages. Mining villages do not exist, because dwarfs have a monopoly on ore, and their have much more ore in their mountains. In southern villages, the people tend to live harder lives, and be more savage. The earth gives less food in the south, and the Kir'Hai Raiders cannot stop every orc attack everytime, so each village has it's own militia to deal with the threats. Those with the most promise to be raging warriors are conscripted into joining the Raiders, but technically the choice is the individuals. But it's well known that a village that refuses to send their young men to the raiders find their village less protected than they were before. Since it is impossible to prove, the powers that be can do little about this, and so the southern villages give their best fighters to join the Raiders and protect the entire Kingdom from Orcs and such, leaving only second rate fighters to defend individual villages. Usually that is enough, since a large force would be spotted and stopped by the raiders, but each time that it isn't a village has to be rebuilt from ashes.

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The Races:

This world is home to the three allied races, Humans, Elves and Dwarfs. In social hierarchy, the humans are the highest among them, and the Dwarfs are the lowest. In most circumstances, this doesn't come into play much. But society favors humans and if a human says one thing, and a dwarf says another, more people will be willing to believe the human over the dwarf. It's a subtle racism, nowhere near as stark as the racism against those not listed among the three here.

There exists also orcs, goblins, and other monstrous subhuman creatures in the dark and dangerous swamps. They are seen as nothing more than evil incarnate and killed on sight. Similarly, the orcs have never tried to treat the fairer races with anything but malice and hate.

Humans:
Humans are the most numerous in the plains and cities of the world. Some exist nearby the treelines to work as lumberjacks, but while they are accepted in the elven forests and the dwarven strongholds, few are willing to live outside of "human lands." Despite the agreement that all lands belong to the humans, elves and dwarfs equally, humans settle exclusively in the plains and the cities of the world, with almost no exceptions. At times a cleric may spend an extended stay in an elven settlement to learn more of the elven pantheon, or a craftsman will wish to meet a dwarven master and apprentice under him, but besides those people and the rare misanthrope, no human ventures into the forests or caves.

As for culture, humans have a mishmash of elven and dwarven culture. Before Aldrick, human culture was almost non existent. Their music was just the banging of war drums, and they had no spiritual beliefs that were consistent for longer than a generation or accepted beyond the one tribe who developed the belief. As humans invited the other two races to live with them, they stole parts of their culture in order to make their own.

Elves:
The elves have remained strongly religious, and consider many locations sacred. The first group of elves to leave the city were those who were meant to be advisers to the king, or to serve to guide the construction of Kirik's churches. Since then, about a third of the elven population has moved into a human settlement to serve as a spiritual leader, or even as an arcanist. Man and Elf both have tapped into the arcane workings of the world to enable them to control reality to some degree, but only elves have managed to make anything they do permanent. All enchanted weapons, armor, or other wondrous items were made by the hands of an elf. The humans have long tried to pull the secret of enchantment from elves, but it has proven impossible. Though the elves freely teach man how to enchant, it seems only elves were gifted with such an ability. As such, many elves make their living doing minor enchantments. They are also the only ones who can manage to make magical potions. The northern forest elves are more interested in arcane study, and often will attend a school in Imperial City before returning to their homes to spread the knowledge they acquire. They are known as the Forest Elves. The elves to the east, deep in the jungles there, are known as the Wyld elves, and they forsake any arcane magic and focus on the pure worship of their gods. They consider the arcane magic to be the bastardization of stolen divine magic. Wyld elves have never willingly join the cities, and stand in their jungle. They practice impressive divine magic, and are known for powerful divination. As required by law, however, the Wyld elves have sent a large delegation of their powerful clerics to live in a jungle they grew from nothing within the city. It appears that through some magic, the high priest of the Wyld elves can walk between trees, and is able to visit the Imperial City on demand by stepping into a tree in his jungle home, and exiting a tree within the seeded jungle at the Imperial City. This seeded jungle is not off limits, legally, but humans avoid it, and dwarfs openly fear the prospect of visiting it.

Dwarfs:
Dwarfs are hardy creatures. They are tough, and vivacious. But they have no talent for magic. Instead they focus on metalworking, and working with their hands. They are almost all exclusively miners, smiths, masons, warriors, and bards. Dwarfs are highly family focused, and almost no dwarf has ever left the stronghold where he was raised until he or she had been married. However, once married, the new family had to live away from both families. Culturally, the male side of the family and the female side are equally important, and each new family accepted both side's paragons, ancestors and traditions. In the end, all of dwarvenkind was united simply because no family known had ever not married into another family. Due to this, all dwarves are not kin to each other. Dwarfs of the same generation are brothers and sisters, and older dwarfs are all uncles and aunts to the younger ones. When dwarfs were forced to come to the city to build, they came in massive numbers, and settled into their new homes permanently. Now their are two sets of dwarfs, the stronghold dwarfs and the city dwarfs. They treat each other like cousins, but the city dwarfs are known to wish the stronghold dwarfs would join them in the city, and the stronghold dwarfs wish the city dwarfs would return to the depths of the earth.

Orcs:
Orcs are evil, monsters who live in the south. They are slightly taller than a man, and filled with pure hatred and malice. Kill on sight.

Goblins:
Goblins are like short orcs. They appear to be enslaved by the orcs. But do not pity them, they are pure evil. Kill on sight.

Ogres:
Ogres are giant-sized orcs. They are stupid, but extra mean. Kill on sight.

Gnolls:
Gnolls are a strange evil hybrid of orcs and dogs. They are clever and cunning, but also very primitive. Kill on sight.

Anything else from the swamp:
The swamp is filled with nothing but evil and hate. Anything that leaves the swamp is evil incarnate. Kill on sight.

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Artifacts of the Races:

The Books of Divine:
Each one of these identical books contains hundreds of thousands of pages on the various gods and goddesses in the elven pantheon. Each also contains one blank page at the end of the book. At anytime that the final page is written on, this new information is then added to all Books of Divine. When the book is then closed and reopened, the last page is empty again, and the information will have shifted in the book. It is said that a high priest need to merely hold the book to know its contents, and can cite it at will. The current High Priest can will another book into existence by performing a divine ritual. Currently it is unknown how many of these books exist in the world, but every church, and most priests carry their own copy. The Radiant Dawn (see factions) has several copies of this book themselves, but they have sworn never to write in its volumes, for it is the duty of the clergy, not the magi, to keep track of the divine on goings.

The Blade of Kings:
The mystical blade of the famed king Aldrick Rah I. It was lost when Aldrick Rah XII went to war with the swamp, entering it to defeat the monsters within once and for all. In this struggle, Aldrick Rah XII took with him a trio of the kingdom's finest warriors, triplet dwarves, a pair of the most powerful elven clerics, and the Archmage Allimadrus, a human wizard with power unrivaled in any now, past or present. After this grand struggle, the king and his men never returned, but it was nearly 30 years before the orcs attacked again, beginning a generation of peace.

The Armor of Aldrick:
This set of armor is heavily enchanted and worn by the king. One set of enchantments allows it to be sent into a magic ring, so that the king man call upon it again at any time. Should the ring be stolen, the ring is able to be summoned back to the king at any time.

The Anvil of Ages:
This anvil is made of an unknown metal. It radiates no magic, and the dwarfs have dozens of conflicting legends about its origins. All of them agree, however, that the first dwarf smith forged the anvil. This anvil is at the center of the forgeworks in Ironhelm, the capital city of the now annexed dwarven nation. The greatest smiths in the whole of the dwarven kingdom share this mighty anvil, and it's said those who use it, are blessed by the paragons of old to strike true with each hammer blow.

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Religions of the Races:

The Elves are the most religious, so it makes sense to start with them. Primitive elves found divinity everywhere around them. The beauty of a rainbow was so great, it was obviously a god. Tigers were so ferocious, clearly they had to be the handiwork of some divine being who dedicated himself to the creation of orange striped felines. Elves themselves were a proud and noble people, they had a family of Gods. But more than that, locations had gods, and interesting rocks had gods. The elven pantheon contains over 80,000 gods. The Wyld Elves consider it their duty to focus their lives on the worship of the Gods, and as it turns out, the power of prayer and worship is enough to bring about the existence of these gods. Some of the Gods are minor, and some are even weaker than that, but all 80,000+ gods are alive. Below, are a list of some of the more powerful and influential Gods.

Spoiler: Elven Gods

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Dwarfs on the other hand worship no gods. They worship their ancestors, and the paragons of their kind. Through this worship, their ancient dead gain divinity, and power to aid them. But nobody sees them as Gods, for Gods are not something that dies except at the hand of another God. They are the Dwarven Paragons.

Spoiler: Dwarven Paragons

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Humans worship only their own God Kirik, as Aldrick commanded them to. Because of this, Kirik is incredibly more powerful than most other gods. He has the most dedicated followers, and followers are the power sources of deities. In some small way, they also greatly revere Aldrick Rah I so much, that he has become the only Paragon of Man.

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Food, Language and Music among the Races:

Food:

Humans:

Humans primary eat whatever they can. There are some farmers, but not enough to sustain the whole human race. There are also hunters, gatherers, bread bakers, fishermen, and even merchants who trade with the elves for their infinite supply of food. Humans have tried to grow gardens like the elves have, but on a smaller scale, however it appears that only the ancient elven groves can be blessed with their enchantments. Regardless, there is enough food in the world for the taking, and live stock flourishes in the vast trackless plains that the majority of the known world is made of.

Elves:
The Elves have enchanted groves that bear fruit year round. Apples regrow after being picked in a manner of days, and smaller fruit grows back even faster. All sorts of fruits and vegetables grow in these groves, and so the elven diet is very varied just from the plants that they eat. Eat animals is rare for them, because of the extra work involved in catching game, and because, with an easily replenished food supply, few elves are willing to kill to eat. However, there are times when elves will be attacked, and they frequently eat anything they kill in self defense.

Dwarfs:
It is said that Dwarfs eat rocks, and there is some truth to that. In many deep places, there are fungus and slime molds that grow on rocks and it is common for a miner to collect one of these rocks and cook the rock and fungus together in a stew. Because they rarely leave the mountain, there is little food to be found, and dwarfs have made do with the smaller things that will grow anywhere. Pools of water in underground lakes can be found, but only plants live in them, plants and bacteria. A certain kind of bacteria that grows readily on a kelp-like plant is the primary food source for dwarfs who live in the caverns of their ancestors. By farming this kelp, and harvesting it, the dwarfs can acquire plenty of this bacteria that grow in colonies large enough to be seen. Typically this bacteria is cooked with the kelp as well as a rock to made a thick brothy soup.

Obviously, the city-dwelling dwarfs have adjusted and now eat whatever they can, just as humans do.

Language:

The human tongue was forced upon non-humans. It is now known as the common tongue, or Kirtak. Note, the real world equivalence of this language would be Latin.

The elven tongue is much more soft and beautiful. Translated into common, the name of the language is The Flower of Words, but most people simply refer to it as Elven. It's name for itself is Floreados. Note, the real world equivalence of this language would be Portuguese.

The Dwarven tongue is harsher, and more guttural, but when spoken by a dwarven poet, or sung by a dwarven bard, the language is somehow still extraordinarily beautiful. Translated into common, the name of the language is Stone Song, but most people refer to it as Dwarven, or it's own Dwarven name, Erdu.

Music:

Humans:
The humans have only recently started to develop their own musical style. For much of history, human's only music was the beat of war drums. For the majority of the time since Aldrick Rah I, human music was simply elven or dwarven music played by humans. As of now, however, that is still the majority of human music.

A recent trend, thanks to a handful of new age bards, is to play music through magic. Illusionists focus their craft on audio illusions, with a few visual ones as well. This new type of music is gaining some traction, but most people prefer the sound of real musicians. However, a real musician cannot play four hundred drums at once, so there is still some draw to these new age bards.

Elves:
The Wyld Elves have eerie music. The primary purpose of music in the Wylds is to be used as part of a ritual, or to frighten off bad spirits or predatory animals. Because of this, Wyld music is frightening.

The Northern Elven music is mostly softer music, but due to the great number of song birds in the Northern Forest, Elves rarely felt the need to muddy the beauty of sound with their own, weak attempts at music when they were surrounded by perfect avian bards.

Dwarfs:
The dwarfs have a great number of songs. Their music ranges through all sorts of mediums. The deep dark places of the world are frighteningly quiet, but the shape of dwarven keeps enable for music and song to be heard from great distances. Dwarfs have the most beautiful music, and have master all instruments known to the world. Metal instruments, stringed instruments, drums, and even wooden instruments thanks to the trade they now have outside of their mountain homes. Most of the best musicians are dwarfs.

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Factions:

The Radiant Dawn:
The term "Radiant Dawn" refers to two things, first is the birth of arcane magic into the world. Shortly after Kirik's birth, he created fissures in reality that let the other planes of reality leak into the material plane. These fissures eventually settled into becoming the leylines from which all arcane magic is found.

The second thing dubbed "The Radiant Dawn" is an organization of scholars and mages who first started to study and control magic. When magic first ran wild, several disasters happened. Hundreds of people died as sorcerers discovered their magical talent, but couldn't control it. Fires trapped families, electrical blasts cut people into shreds and ice magic froze people solid.

In order to control magic, all thing magical were collected and put into one place for study and containment. People discovered to have a talent for magic were taken from their families and instructed in how to control their magics. Once trained, mages were still a danger to the people, but an untrained mage was a powder keg with a lit fuse. Few people tried to keep their children hidden away from the Radiant Dawn, because it was well recognized how dangerous having magical talent was without training.

Once trained, mages were allowed to either join the Radiant Dawn, or had to at least register with the Radiant Dawn and were forbidden to use their magic without the permission of the Radiant Dawn. Many elves became arcanists, making magical potions or enchantments, but most humans stayed with the Radiant Dawn. There were only three main jobs within the Radiant Dawn: Instructor, Inquisitor and Researcher.

Researchers:

Researchers were in charge of cataloging and studying the magical artifacts of the world.They stay mostly in labs underground in lead lined vaults, testing magical theories and developing new spells. Many people wonder why a researcher would ever choose to spend all his time in a laboratory thinking and casting spells, but many researchers wonder why people would do anything else, given the choice. For most researchers, they are exploring the world in a way nobody else can. They are unlocking the secrets to how the universe works. A few researchers in these labs don't even study magic, but instead study other various topics and use magic to aid them. Most topics are still primitive, and most of them aren't going anywhere, but when one of this researchers discovers something, it's a major find. This category of research is known as "Science" rather than "Magic," and it holds as much promise for the future. More than they could ever imagine.

Instructors:

Instructors stay at the Radiant Dawn to teach in coming students how to control their magic, and teach basic magical principles to the public. With a better understanding of how magic works in the world, magic has been freed from the fear and hate it once inspired. Recently, it has been discovered that those without innate magical talent can learn magic through study, but they must employ the use of spell books. This has been banned, however, until such a time as magic is deemed a profession whose demand is greater then the current supply of sorcerers.

Many researchers and Inquisitors retire to become instructors, but some become instructors immediately. A young instructor is often one whose magic is not very potent, but under stands the theory quite well. Or, at times, a young instructor simply has no other options for a career. Most graduates from the Radiant Dawn have no real skills outside of magic, unless they developed them in their free time. This means nearly all graduates have to go into a magic related field, or they will be without a job or have to find a job with low pay and lots of menial labor, such as a scribe or something more physically demanding such as a laborer.

Inquisitors:

Inquisitors make up the bulk of the Radiant Dawn. It is the duty of the Inquisitors to find magical artifacts and bring them back to the vaults under the Radiant Dawn until such a time as they as deemed non-dangerous to the public. Inquisitors also find mages who are unregistered with the Radiant Dawn, or whose registration has expired without the mage returning, and bring them in for punishment. Finally, Inquisitors also bring in those who have recently discovered their magical powers. Most cities have a resident Inquisitor who calls for another Inquisitor to come and claim the new student. These resident Inquisitors never leave their post, and instead call in adventuring Inquisitors to come and deal with any problems in the area.

At times, there are threats to the world that awaken, magical forces that would cause problems. The final job of an Inquisitor is to battle these threats. Sometimes a Dragon flies to the Isle of Rah, or a demon appears on the island. Both of this dangers are addressed by an Inquisitor, as they are magical in nature. More often than that, however, magical threats are rogue mages.

The sight of an Inquisitor inspires fear in many. If there is an Inquisitor nearby, then there is a magical threat they have come to deal with. Perhaps they have found a minor magical artifact, or perhaps they have found a doomsday artifact, or a demon lurks among the people, or even worse, a rogue mage lives among the people. Rogue mages have gotten into battles with Inquisitors that ended the lives of dozens of innocents in singular battles. The Radiant Dawn refuses to release the total death toll.

The Dawn:
The Radiant Dawn exists to protect the people, but often with no concern how many people they are supposed to protect get hurt. Individual Inquisitors might be more careful to preserve innocent life, but the Dawn accepts no responsibility for collateral damage caused by their Inquisitors acting to protect the people. If a dragon were to attack a village, and the team of Inquisitors sent to kill the dragon also obliterated the town, and everyone inside, at least they protected other villages from the dragon. Many, if not most, Inquisitors try to avoid that sort of calamity as possible, but the extremists exists, and a people are known by their extremists more than their other members.

The land that the Radiant Dawn has claimed for itself is nearly half the size as Imperial City, and contains hundreds of under ground rooms and vaults. Dwarfs often work at the Radiant Dawn to expand and maintain the facilities, but the mages usually treat them as lesser people. Young mages especially can be haughty and superior to others, and the entire dwarven race is incapable of casting arcane magic. With divine magic being little more than convincing the Gods to perform miracles for you, arcane magic is seen as the only true magic. But in the last 20 or so years, a ban on casting any magic on a faculty member of the Radiant Dawn without their permission has been extended to protect the dwarfs, and the penalty for committing this crime is the same as for any other rogue use of magic: death.

Deep in these aforementioned tunnels lies a labyrinthine maze of rooms and magical barriers. The total room that the Radiant Dawn takes up, when including underground areas, is actually only slightly smaller than the whole of the Imperial Cities. Most rooms are built to house a few artifacts, though some house hundreds of similar, non-threatening artifacts, and some will house just one under magical barrier and magical guard.

A day in the life of a:

Researcher:
Most researchers sleep in bunks underground nearby their laboratories. Because the newer labs are so deep underground, walking to the surface would take hours, and so some researchers will not see the light of the sun for years. Often they only come up to present after making a truly amazing find. The less impressive a researcher's career, the lower underground he is. Our researcher in question is a little below average. He has been underground for 5 years, but his lab is light with Daylight spells, so he doesn't really feel the effects of not seeing the sun. When he wakes up, he uses a magically attuned crystal to confirm his identity and then opens the barriers to his laboratory so he can work. After working until he is exhausted, he uses the same magic crystal to leave the laboratory and return to his bunk.

Instructor:
Living in the Faculty Suites, right between the Lower and Upper division schools, most instructors live as many other people, magical or not. Our Instructor in question is a retired Inquisitor. He wakes up from nightmares of dragon's fire, the same fire that crippled his left arm beyond repair, and gave him the limb he walks with. After eating a bland, boring breakfast, he remembers back to his prestige as an Inquisitor and the grand meals he could afford before, but his trip down memory lane has to be short, or he will be late to his class. His students fear and respect him, because he has killed more rogue mages, demons and dragons combined, than the number of students that fit in a classroom. This instructor, like most other Inquisitors, focus on teach defensive magic, like Abjuration's Shield, Conjuration's Mage Armor or focus on the basics of Evocation. The sort of evocation magic the Inquisitor knows are now illegal for him to cast or even discuss, but today is one of the times when he is allowed to do so. Four times a year, the Inquisition hires graduates, and four times a year, retired Inquisitors display the awful power and terrorize the new hires with the sort of Evocation spells they would be learning as a part of their job. Most graduates have barely grasped 2nd level spells, and most retired Inquisitors would amaze them with 4th or even 5th level spells. Giant Fireballs in the sky, fiery rays that rip apart prepared targets, and other such things dazzle people. These are the few days our Ex-Inquisitor feels alive.

Inquisitor:
Inquisitors are the arcane soldiers who protect the land from threats they cannot comprehend. They battle with the forces of evil, but typically all they do is stand around waiting. Fortunately for you, the day in the life of an Inquisitor I've chosen isn't one where he waited all day, and all night and then ended up doing nothing. Today, our Inquisitor arrives at a small village to deal with a young mage who has just realized his power in the most tragic of ways. The house the boy stays in is obvious once the Inquisitor looks at the village. Only one building appears to have been blasted by fire. Inside a boy, no more than perhaps 10 years old. His parents had tried to clean up the messy remains of the boy's younger sister, but she had partially melted into the wall. The little boy held onto his legs and stared blankly at the remains of his sister, his handiwork. With proper lessons, you gain full control of your magic, and you never make these mistakes again. The Inquisitor told the boy, as he magically removed the remains. You aren't a monster. You aren't a villain. The Lord Kirik has blessed you with magic, but we were too late to discover it. It's a mistake made by the whole community. Nobody noticed the signs of magic in you. Come, you and I are going to the Dawn, and you will learn how to never hurt anyone person again.

Truly?

Truly. Come, we must hurry. I do not want the night to fall before we reach the next village over.

[darklink_shadow]

Factions:

Tenebrious Missive:
The Tenebrious Missive is a branch of the government used for espionage. Nothing is really known about them to the public.

Kir'Hai Raiders:
Contrary to their their name, the Kir'Hai raiders are not raiders, but they instead fight the orc raiders that cross over from the swamp. They are elite members of the military, with more advanced training. They have a fortress built nearby the swamp that works as their main base of operations. Because orcs typically attack at night, there is a smaller series of outposts that separate the nearby villages from the swamp. When a signal fire is lit, it warns that the outpost has spotted an orc raid, and the raiders ride out to deal with the threat. Thanks to the Kir'Hai raiders, nearly 4/5ths of all orc raids are stopped before they happen.

Other Factions:
There are a few smaller factions of note, but nothing as important as the main three.

The Merchant Guild:
The merchant guild sets the prices of goods, and the pay for workers. There are three branches of the Merchant Guild, one that works to set a fair price for finished works, one to set the price for raw goods, and one to set the price for labor. In earlier times, the labor division tried to force pay to be as low as it could be, but a sort of coup enabled pro-workers to gain control. Now elections for officials in each branch are done only by members of the branches, such as artisans for the finished products branch, lumberjacks for the raw goods branch, and again, lumberjack or other unskilled laborers can vote for the officials in the labor branch. It should be known, however, that apprentices cannot vote.

The Guild of Sundry:
This group is a mercenary guild, whose members comprise all of the sanctioned non-military fighters. It is from this group that merchant caravans and other such people hire protection.

[darklink_shadow]

In-game Statistics:

Prelude:

Bans:

• Only Elves can take Item Creation Feats
• Dwarves cannot take levels in Arcane classes
• Dwarves cannot take levels in full casting progression classes
• Dwarves cannot gain spells about 6th level pre-Epic. Post Epic they cannot learn Epic Spells.

Humans:
Having not grown to be as diverse as they are in most settings, humans are resilient, and blessed by Kirik, however their martial past hasn't faded from them, and they are quick to learn to take up arms.

Elves:
Elves aren't typically as learned or as haughty as they are in most settings. Elves in this setting are most similar to wood elves in other settings.

Dwarfs:
Dwarfs are staggeringly different in this setting than any other. They lack any racial hatred, as they rarely interact with those that dwarfs in other settings hate. They most work with their hands, dig into the earth, and build things. As such, they are a strong and hearty people. But they are also very charming, as they have spent much time developing their own culture, which has much more poetic and artistic flair than other cultures. Furthermore, their inability to wield arcane magic also has given them some shielding from the arcane. On a final note, the idols they worship are not as powerful as most Gods in other settings, and they typically shun the worship of actual Gods.

Edition 3.5:

Humans:
Humans are less versatile in this world than in other worlds. They gain +2 to any attribute, +1 to all saves, and they gain weapon proficiency based on their existing proficiency. A human with no weapon proficiency or with proficiency with only simple weapons gain proficiency with one martial weapon. A human with proficiency with martial weapons gains proficiency with an exotic weapon. Futhermore, humans treat armor as one step lighter than normal up to a minimum of light, and reduce the ASF of any armor by 15% and the maximum dex bonus for any armor they wear is increased by 2. These stack with magical effects or training. Note: This means a human bard may wear medium armor and count it as light.

Elves:
Elves are no different than PHB elves, also known as high elves, except their favored class is cleric for Wyld Elves, or Sorcerer for Northern or City elves.

Dwarfs:
Contrary to other worlds, dwarfs in the Kingdom of Rah are cheery and fun to be around. Dwarves gain +2 Con, +2 STR and +2 Charisma. They gain +2 saves versus magical effects, and they can select any class as their favored class. They cannot, however, cast arcane magic of any sort, nor are their Paragons strong enough to grant full casting progression, as such, paladins cannot learn to be any divine casting class who gain spells faster than a Ranger or a Paladin. Whether not your DM wants to or not, this setting uses the Divine Bard variant, and most bards are Dwarven. But your DM does have final say, but ignoring this fact greatly distorts the setting. Dwarfs are musical and cheery little buggers.

Edition Pathfinder:

Humans:
Humans are less versatile in this world than in other worlds. They gain +2 to any attribute, +1 to all saves, and they gain weapon proficiency based on their existing proficiency. A human with no weapon proficiency or with proficiency with only simple weapons gain proficiency with one martial weapon. A human with proficiency with martial weapons gains proficiency with an exotic weapon. Futhermore, humans treat armor as one step lighter than normal up to a minimum of light, and reduce the ASF of any armor by 15% and the maximum dex bonus for any armor they wear is increased by 2. These stack with magical effects or training. Note: This means a human bard may wear medium armor and count it as light.

Elves:
Elves in pathfinder have the statistics of Half-elves.

Dwarfs:
Contrary to other worlds, dwarfs in the Kingdom of Rah are cheery and fun to be around. Dwarves gain +2 Con, +2 STR and +2 Charisma. They gain +2 saves versus magical effects, and they can select any class as their favored class. They cannot, however, cast arcane magic of any sort, nor are their Paragons strong enough to grant full casting progression, as such, dwarfs cannot learn to be any divine casting class who gain spells faster than a Ranger or a Paladin.

Edition 4:

TBA

[darklink_shadow]

Other Races and Possible Expansions:

Other Races:

Aasimar:
There is very little interaction between the material plane and other planes due to the lack of high level planar travelers. Furthermore, there are almost no divine beings other than the Gods. Because of this, the Aasimar do not exist in the original setting. At the DM fiat, the lesser Gods could couple with mortal races to produce Aasimar, however the world is not really old enough for Lesser Aasimar. However, as always, the DM gets final say in everything, not the world creator.

Tieflings:
Tieflings don't make sense in this world. Demons and Devils are rare, and when spotted, the Radiant Dawn should obliterate them as fast as they can. And should a demon mate with a mortal, they would produce a half-demon, which would probably be murdered as an infant. And even if it wasn't, there would be too much stigma for it to be allowed to mate. Also, a half demon would probably be treated as either a monster, or as a thing of magic. So were it not murdered, it would be imprisoned by the Radiant Dawn. I really don't see the demonic line living long enough to produce Tieflings. DM fiat can do many things, but allowing Tieflings would be fairly wrong and counter-logical in this setting.

Fey Races:
There are no fey races in the base setting, however there are many ways you can introduce them. Fey could live in the Swamp, and they could be good or evil. They might even help the party, should they choose to defeat the big evils in the swamp. The Wyld elves might also turn into Fey through ritual magic gone wrong, or perhaps gone right. Also, if you want the Fey to have always been in the world, and not to be in the swamp, they could exist in the Jungle to the east. However, I suggest against the last option. Remember, Humans hate things they don't understand, or are too different from them. They would have murdered all elves had their god not commanded them not to do so.

Other Expansions:

Other Islands:
The known islands aren't inhabited, nor do they contain many resources. But the DM could add more distant islands that have other creatures. There is an unfound Isle of Dragons, assumedly, because Dragons have raided the continent before.

The Underdark:
There are two ways I can think of to add the Underdark into your games. The first is a schism between the Elves, perhaps even a holy war, that forced one group underground. If you have your campaign flashed forward a few generations from that time, you have drow! There might be caverns that are unclaimed that the elves retreated down. But, more reasonably, is that the dwarves digging uncovers the Underdark. Maybe there were already drow or duegar living down in the Underdark, but if that is the case, they have little reason to hate the surface as they do in other settings. But they could just hate the surface upon discovering it. It's strange and unknown.

Other Planes:
Magic can open portals to other planes. It's a well known fact for us, but it's something not even the Radiant Dawn knows about. Or do they? Are their scientists... magic scientists... magicientists? Magi-Scientists? What happens when they open the first portal? Where do they go? What horrors or wonders await?

[darklink_shadow]

Special Notes on Magic:

Spells

Planar Travel
As of the time I am righting this, the highest level spell that exists is only 5th level. The player characters might exceed this at some time, but this means many spells are unheard of yet. Planar Travel doesn't exist, though in theory a cleric with 5th level spells could travel across planes, there aren't any clerics of that level.

Polymorph:
All forms of polymorph are unfortunately very restricted. Nearly all forms that exist in other settings haven't been discovered, or don't exist. Many animals exist, but only ones that live in the desert, the plains, the forest, the jungle or the mountains are well known. The ones who live in the swamp are known if the DM allows them. Since this world is very secluded compared to other, more magically advanced worlds, the DM has even greater say if an animal is lives on the continent.

Schools of Magic

Necromancy:
There is much stigma with necromancy in other worlds, but realize the fear that the undead bring to commoners in Faerun or Eberron is the same level of fear that commoners in The Kingdom of Rah feel at all magic, equally. The power to summon a giant explosion of fire is no less frightening than the ability to bring the dead back to life. But magic is a gift from the great God Kirik, and so it cannot be denounced as evil. It may be that in your campaign, you want Necromancy evil and forbidden, and that can easily be done by having people with power object to it, or by having Kirik object to it.

Enchantment:
Enchantment is the power to be better than human, as such, it is the most researched school of magic. What this means is up to your DM.

Transmutation:
Transmutation is turning things into other things, for the most part. Turning objects into other objects is interesting, but turning people into things is banned, and seen as evil and horrible. People who use polymorph effects are hated and feared. Partial transformations aren't banned, but they are more taboo than anything else.

Evocation:
Evocation is primarily the power to destroy and kill. Very little evocation magic is taught in schools, but of course evocation is of prime interest to the militant part of the Radiant Dawn. Fighting off evil magical things, like dragons or the rare demon is much easier with magic. As such, Inquisitors often learn a high level evocation spell before any other type of high level magic. Evocation magic is treated the same way as guns are treated in America. The government allows them to have it, but the bigger and more powerful spells are banned or restricted. Of course, all magic is restricted by the Radiant Dawn, but the government keeps it's hands out of magical affairs save evocation policy.

Divination:
The power to know things you would otherwise not know is a very interesting type of magic. The Wyld Elves greatly favor this type of magic to allow them to predict and avoid wild animal attacks, and because they believe knowing more leads them closer to divinity.

Abjuration:
This school has its own following, but it's not favored or hated by anyone especially. Some people insist Abjuration has the most commercial uses.

Conjuration:
Most commoners see Conjuration as the best school of magic. To make something from almost nothing is amazingly powerful. Lower level magic spells can be used to produce food, water, and other needed things. Even those with only first level spells can manage to summon horses for hours at a time, or even invisible workers to do minor tasks. For the greatest number of humans, Conjuration is seen as the most powerful type of magic, other than Evocation.

Illusion:
Illusion has its niche, but for the most part, Illusion has been used by story tellers of all sorts. The power to conjure images and sound is very useful as an entertainment. A new wave of music has been born, where higher level illusion spells are used in place of instruments.

[darklink_shadow]

Government and Politics:

The Overarching Structure:

Within the structure of Organized Government, there are five major factions to consider: The Aldrick Line, the Circle of Elders, The Zenith of Truth, The Dawn's Light, and The Imperial Police. I will go over each in detail later. The Circle of Elders, the Zenith of Truth and The Dawn's Light are each factions whose member vote to decide their faction's vote on any matter. Together they form the Legislative branch of the Kingdom of Rah. This means they decide the laws of the Land. The Imperial Police act as enforcers of these laws. Finally, the Aldrick Line bestows unto the people their king, and ruler.

The Aldrick Line:

The first leader of the Kingdom of Rah was Aldrick Rah, and his son's son inherited the throne when Aldrick died at the ghastly old age of 97, an unheard of age in this time. Each man to take the mantle of king is renamed Aldrick Rah and so we mark our number of kings by the postfix of his name. This honor has not left the paternal line as of yet, but there is a line of succession whereby the cousin of the king may take rulership. Because Aldrick Rah, the King, is always watched by the God Kirik, nobody dares plot against him, and their reigns have been fruitful.

The Circle of Elders:

One elf from the Northern Forests, one elf from the Eastern Jungles, one dwarf from Ironhelm, and one dwarf voted into office by the dwarfs within the city join the heir to the Aldrick Line to form the Circle of Elders. How each member is selected does not matter, but within the circle, most decisions are made. This Circle of Elders votes on may topics of how to rule the people fairly, and can alone bring about laws so long as it can be said that these laws do not concern magic, nor religion.

The Zenith's Truth

Kirik, almighty god of Man, Arcana, The Sun, and Lions is worshiped by nearly all men. The church of Kirik is known at the Sun's Rise, and the political faction that write religious laws is known as the Zenith's Truth. The Symbol for the Zenith's Truth is a man kneeling with his head towards the sky as he gazes upon a stylized sun above him. Within the Zenith's Truth, there is the High Priest or Priestess, who determines religious law and a High Paladin, who carries out the law. Rituals are performed to select who will become the next in either role, and both roles are for life.

The Dawn's Light:
Made from group selected by the Dawn, this faction fields the High Inquisitor, the Archmagus, and the Headmaster as a trio of voters to decide the laws of how magic will be regarded. The High Inquisitor's vote is cast worth two points, whereas the other two vote at only one point. Should they end with a tie, the King's wisdom in the matter is sought out. However, the High Inquisitor votes first, and he decides who fills the position of both the Archmagus and the Headmaster. They rarely vote against him. Since the implementation of government, the King has never needed to be bother by matters of magic. The position of High Inquisitor is voted on once every 5 years, from a pool of high ranking Inquisitors. Priests from the Zenith's Truth then bless the man, and test him for corruption. Both the High Paladin, and High Priest must agree that the man is not corrupted. Should he be found corrupted, he is instead put to death.
(Note: In my own games, this blessing is done by a casting of Zone of Truth, some questioning, and finally Detect Evil. But this is a secret unknown to the people, so you may do it however you wish.)

Issues of Faith, Magic and Man:
If a law is found to affect more than one aspect of life; faith, magic, and man, all three factions each vote on the topic. Each faction's decision counts as one vote, though any faction may abstain. If there is a draw, the party who abstained must then vote to decide, or they may request decision by the King.

The Imperial Police:
The Imperial Police has two branches, the Shield and the Sword. The Shield contains policemen to keep order around the city, and the Sword is the military that is maintained lest anyone should come to challenge the rule of Aldrick Rah. If the Shield arrests you, they then charge you with crimes and convict you. Citizens who are accused of crimes have few rights, and magical divination from the a high ranking priest determine if the accused is guilty or not, unless the accused confesses, or there are sufficient witnesses to prove the accused guilt. They are then punished by the laws of the land. Most capital offense put people to death. Because of this extreme approach on punishment, and the ability for high ranking clerics to determine truths, few crimes are committed.

[darklink_shadow]

Gods:

There is only one listed God in this world, but the DM and even the players are free to make their own gods. Note that all humans worship Kirik, or they don't worship anyone. It is known as an absolute truth that Kirik is the God of mankind. Elven Clerics, however, may worship any number of lesser gods. Dwarven Clerics worship their honored dead, but Dwarven Cleric is a misnomer. Typically religious Dwarfs become Bards, Paladins, or never leave NPC classes.

Kirik:
Power Level: Greater Deity
Domains: Glory, Sun, War, Magic and Knowledge
Portfolio: Mankind, Peace through Violence, Intellectual Growth, Lions, The Sun
Alignment: Lawful Good.
Holy Symbol: The Sun

The Church of Kirik is known as The Sun's Rise. Their main church is in Imperial City, and they do charity work to feed the poor, but they also hire the poor to be volunteer workers in exchange for housing. The Sun's Rise has a large garden, but the bulk of their food is made from relics that generate food. In fact, the Sun's Rise has deemed any relic that can produce food to be divine gifts made for their vaults. The Radiant Dawn disagrees, but they were outvoted and now all food generating artifacts are given to the Sun's Rise.

You may wish to alter the Sun's Rise to be more peaceful or more oppressive. In my setting, they are mildly oppressive, but most people side with the church of Kirik out of love, rather than fear. Kirik rose them up from little more than animals.

[darklink_shadow]

Fifth Reserved Post

[darklink_shadow]

Sixth Reserved post. Going to get the first 20 and open this up for commentation and questifcations.

[darklink_shadow]

So, this is the 18th post. Reserving a few more.

[darklink_shadow]

19th.

I can't think of what else I am missing, but I know there must be a lot. Like when I forgot about food. So, I'll just update relevant as people ask about the setting, I guess.

[darklink_shadow]

Last Reserved Post.

I'll check back soon to see if anyone has commented, and then I'll be checking every so often. I have a lot of errands to do before college starts back up again.

[Nevershutup]

This... Looks amazing! I like your take on the races. However, there are a few questions I have:
1) What about other planes? Are races like Aasimar and Tiefling a thing?

2) Necromancy. Is it taboo in this world? Or does it depend on the reason? So, if the subject is willing, they can be animated to defend their hometown, or something similar, and it wouldn't be an evil act?

3)The Radiant Dawn: Something more need to happen for these guys, because they look like loads of fun. Mostly just more fluff, if not a prestige class.

4) A ban list: it looks like only elves can take item creation feats, and dwarves cannot get past 6th level spells, etc.

5) Humans are way OP. A human Swashbuckler could wear mithril fullplate, and be just fine. And the ASF reduction.... Without that, ASF can be reuduced by Twilight (10%, +1 Enhancement), Gith-craft (5%, 600gp), Fey-craft (5%, 500gp), Mithril (10%, Varies), Thistle-Down Padding, (5%, 250gp), and a single level dip in Spellsword for -10%(Half-casting progression... , but level one give -10% and a caster level) for a grand total of -45% ASF. Take off another 15%, and you hit 60%, meaning that they can EASILY wear mithril fullplate, for 15,000-ish ( for Mithril Gith-Fey(Totally possible, actually.)-Craft Fullplate) gold, and a feat (Armor Proficiency (Light). However, the rest of their abilities are ok for the most part, especially if elves recieve a slight boost.

6) WHat about other races? Do they exist on other continents?

7) Dragons, Fey, Vermin, the Underdark(-like areas...), etc. Do they exist?

[darklink_shadow]

You know, those are all very, very good questions. This is exactly why I typed this up here: so people could poke holes in my world that I could fill in with a little duct tape.

1) What about other planes? Are races like Aasimar and Tiefling a thing?

I thought really, really hard before I answered this. And I finally decided the answer. The first part is easy. There are other planes, but nobody as of yet has discovered how to travel to them. Currently, in the world, nobody has really gotten much higher level than about 8, except for Alrick Rah I who was a 12th level character with a mix of martial and divine levels, depending on the system used. As for the other races: Aasimar is also an easy no, because the plane of divinity has very few residents. There are plenty of weak and powerful Gods, but in this world, there are no angels or other divine creatures yet, because very few demons or devils have left the lower planes. And that is why the answer to Tiefling is also a no. In order for their to be Tieflings, there must have been demonic taint in the bloodline a long time ago. But only a handful of demons or devils have ever made it to the material plane, and all of them have died before they could impregnate any unsuspecting people.

2) Necromancy. Is it taboo in this world? Or does it depend on the reason? So, if the subject is willing, they can be animated to defend their hometown, or something similar, and it wouldn't be an evil act?

Magic in general is so structured, but also so young. There aren't any taboos on any specific magic yet. That could easily be a plot hook someone makes. Is Necromancy Evil? Should it be banned? How will practitioners react? Who will stop the necromancers who refuse to quit?

Another hook, what if so far, nobody has done necromancy and one or more of the PCs is the first to learn it? How does the world react? (Protip: probably with mistrust, and possibly with automatic anger.) What do the players do?

3)The Radiant Dawn: Something more need to happen for these guys, because they look like loads of fun. Mostly just more fluff, if not a prestige class.

They have a lot of fluff, but all of it is so badly waterlogged, I can't recover it. I think I will write about the hierarchy, and some side stories about previous members of the Radiant Dawn. They are, after all, the most powerful organization in the world. I'm jotting this down on my TODO list.

4) A ban list: it looks like only elves can take item creation feats, and dwarves cannot get past 6th level spells, etc.

I suppose I could make a more obvious ban list. It's not an overly large list, but:

• Only Elves can take Item Creation Feats
• Dwarves cannot take levels in Arcane classes
• Dwarves cannot take levels in full casting progression classes
• Dwarves cannot gain spells about 6th level pre-Epic. Post Epic they cannot learn Epic Spells.

5) Humans are way OP. A human Swashbuckler could wear mithril fullplate, and be just fine. And the ASF reduction.... Without that, ASF can be reuduced by Twilight (10%, +1 Enhancement), Gith-craft (5%, 600gp), Fey-craft (5%, 500gp), Mithril (10%, Varies), Thistle-Down Padding, (5%, 250gp), and a single level dip in Spellsword for -10%(Half-casting progression... , but level one give -10% and a caster level) for a grand total of -45% ASF. Take off another 15%, and you hit 60%, meaning that they can EASILY wear mithril fullplate, for 15,000-ish ( for Mithril Gith-Fey(Totally possible, actually.)-Craft Fullplate) gold, and a feat (Armor Proficiency (Light). However, the rest of their abilities are ok for the most part, especially if elves recieve a slight boost.

Are they not way OP in the original setting? I took away their feat, and they bonus skill points, and gave them better weapon and armor usage. I have no problems with a Swashbuckler wearing Mithril Full-Plate. That's going to be hard enough to come across that if he does, he's probably a bad ass anyways. This reminds me that I need to make a post about minerals and some other enchantments. But some should be obvious enough. Gith-craft? What is a Gith? Fey-Craft? What is a Fey? Those don't exist anywhere in my described setting, thus they obviously cannot make you armor.

What do you suggest I change, exactly? Just take away their armor benefits? That leaves them with a floating +2 to stats, +1 saves, and the ability to use a weapon (Essentially the Exotic Weapon Proficiency Feat for free, or Martial Weapon Proficiency for free. Both of which a normal person never takes normally because they suck.) I think that leaves humans fairly wimpy.

6) WHat about other races? Do they exist on other continents?

There aren't any other continents known in my setting, but I leave room for the DM to create other islands if they want. It's possible that they send their players off on a magic boat ride to discover the Isle of Dragons, and put an end to their raids once and for all, or other such adventures. In the game I run, they won't be crossing the ocean at all, but that doesn't mean I need to limit other people. My official answer is "No, other continents don't have playable races on them, just monsters" but the DM can change that as they see fit.

7) Dragons, Fey, Vermin, the Underdark(-like areas...), etc. Do they exist?

Dragons exist. They sometimes fly to the continent, but the Radiant Dawn always rally together to kill the Dragon. Fey do not exist, but if the DM wants to add them, it would make sense that they were either in the swamp and treated as horrible monsters. Even the pretty fey would be seen with hatred and mistrust. They have magic, which makes them a threat the Radiant Dawn would either enslave or murder. Or they could be elsewhere, but that makes less sense due to the largely racist overtone of the setting. Vermin are a thing, but which Vermin are up to the DM. I personally will only allow real world vermin, like rats and locus.

The Underdark requires a division of Elves, where some are forced under ground. The religious elves could start a holy war, lose and be forced underground to become the first Drow. But, the only place to dig deep is in the dwarven tunnels as of yet. And in my games in this setting, there is no Underdark. However, another DM could put the Underdark under the Dwarven mines, if they wished. I should include a post of "Possible Expansions" to include other islands, the underdark, and various creature types.


When I get back home late tonight, I will adjust my previous posts to reflect the questions you have asked. Thanks a lot, they were really good ones!

[runestone]

First of all, this setting looks awesome, and you've obviously put a lot of work into it. I particularly like:
- The origin of Kirik, the rise of the humans and the fall of the elves. That really sounded like a bit of mythology.
- Your dwarves. I love your dwarves.
- Your elves (but I've always been a fan of wood elves)
- The effort you've put into describing parts of the culture like food and music (especially the illusion based music, that's a cool idea).
- The whole 'magic is new and dangerous'-thing (but I guess you knew that )
- The Radiant Dawn. That's a really interesting faction.
- PLenty of different opportunities for conflict. That's something I look for as GM.

Here are some questions which came up while I read your notes. I hope some of the might be useful for fleshing things out.

- I would like to know a little more about the political system. Does the king have supreme power or is he restricted somehow? Is there a feudal system or something else?

- I would like to know more about the human lands. Are there other cities? Are there any barbarian tribes?

- Who watches the watchmen? What keeps the Radiant Dawn in check? They are the most powerful organization in the known world and everybody distrusts magic, so what's being done to control these guys?

- Are there any undesirable side effects to being licensed by the Radiant Dawn? If not, then what's keeping a power hungry rogue mage from playing along for a while to learn what he can from the Radiant Dawn? Their stockpile of magical items would be very attractive to someone like that.

- Is the swamp meant to be filled with whatever the GM finds appropriate, or is there a story about it which just hasn't been told yet?

- Is this world a dangerous place in general? I get the impression that things run pretty smoothly at the moment: The most powerful god is on the side of the humans, the Radiant Dawn seems capable of handling the magical threats, the border guards keep most of the orcs in the swamp, the dwarves may be treated like second rate people, but they're not about to revolt.

- Are there factions among the elves and dwarves who are ready to use violence to change the status quo?

The first group of elves to leave the city were those who were meant to be advisers to the king, or to serve to guide the construction of Kirik's churches.

They left for the city, right? I was confused for moment.

However, there are times when elves will be attacked, and they frequently eat anything they kill in self defense.

Ok, this might be weird, but is this only supposed to include animals or also sentient aggressors? If the latter is the case, then I think it deserves to be explored further. It seems like something the human population would react strongly to (I once came up with some elves that acted like that.)

Researcher:
Most researchers sleep in bunks underground nearby their laboratories. Because the newer labs are so deep underground, walking to the surface would take hours, and so some researchers will not see the light of the sun for years. Often they only come up to present after making a truly amazing find. The less impressive a researcher's career, the lower underground he is. Our researcher in question is a little below average. He has been underground for 5 years, but his lab is light with Daylight spells, so he doesn't really feel the effects of not seeing the sun. When he wakes up, he uses a magically altered wooden card to confirm his identity and then opens the barriers to his laboratory so he can work. After working until he is exhausted, he uses the same wooden card to leave the laboratory and return to his bunk.

I see you've spent time in a reasearch lab
It's a very nice description, but the wooden key card somehow broke my willing suspension of disbelief.

The Underdark:
There are two ways I can think of to add the Underdark into your games. The first is a schism between the Elves, perhaps even a holy war, that forced one group underground. If you have your campaign flashed forward a few generations from that time, you have drow! There might be caverns that are unclaimed that the elves retreated down. But, more reasonably, is that the dwarves digging uncovers the Underdark. Maybe there were already drow or duegar living down in the Underdark, but if that is the case, they have little reason to hate the surface as they do in other settings. But they could just hate the surface upon discovering it. It's strange and unknown.

Suggestion: If there's going to be schism between the elves, it could be between factions reacting differently to the growing human threat.

Of course, all magic is restricted by the Radiant Dawn, but the government keeps it's hands out of magical affairs save evocation policy.

This seems to imply a dangerous lack of understanding of magic by the government. After all, lots of other spells can be equally dangerous. No that thats a problem for the setting. I mean, politicians often have strange priorities.

[darklink_shadow]

Oh man, I forgot to write about the government! Kirik's Ire! I'll have to make a big update, but I am going to address all your questions between now and tomorrow night. Thanks for dropping by!

But short answers to your primary questions:

- I would like to know a little more about the political system. Does the king have supreme power or is he restricted somehow? Is there a feudal system or something else?

There is a King, and a five-part governmental system. There are the Lawmakers: The Circle of Elders, the Radiant Dawn, and the High Church of Kirik, who decide upon laws and such. There is the police/military branch which enforces rules and carries out judgements and punishments for law breakers, and then there is the King, who does whatever he wants.The King can decided to make up his own laws, or decide that someone is guilty or innocent before or after a trial. But the kings thus far in history have been kind rulers, swayed by reason and logic. The King is also a religious icon, because Kirik speaks directly to the King, and since Aldrick III, the king has also been a reasonably powerful mage. All of this will be better explained in my up and coming update tonight.

- I would like to know more about the human lands. Are there other cities? Are there any barbarian tribes?

There are no other cities at all, but there are several villages. Most of them are more civilized, but a few towards the southern borders are more warlike and barbaric out of the need to be able to handle threats. I'll talk more about human lands in an update.

- Who watches the watchmen? What keeps the Radiant Dawn in check? They are the most powerful organization in the known world and everybody distrusts magic, so what's being done to control these guys?

Nobody. Nothing. They are taking care of it, don't worry your pretty little head, the Dawn is looking out for you, my friend. They have your best interests at heart. Trust them.

- Are there any undesirable side effects to being licensed by the Radiant Dawn? If not, then what's keeping a power hungry rogue mage from playing along for a while to learn what he can from the Radiant Dawn? Their stockpile of magical items would be very attractive to someone like that.

The biggest thing from keeping a power hungry rogue mage from doing anything too crazy is the legion of equally if not more powerful mages that would stop any troublesome people. Unless, of course, that person were to rise through the ranks of the Radiant Dawn's Inquisition chapter to become a high ranking member. That would be a plot hook to deal with.

- Is the swamp meant to be filled with whatever the GM finds appropriate, or is there a story about it which just hasn't been told yet?

Well, the Swamp has Orcs, Ogres, Goblins and X, where X is whatever the DM says. It might have temples to evil gods, or other plot hooks in it. In my own game, █████████ and ██████ is ██████████ and, ██████████████████████ swamp! ██████████████████████████████████████████████████ ███ so the players █████ have to ███████████████. But each DM will have their own story to tell, and the Swamp is where all evil lurks.

- Is this world a dangerous place in general? I get the impression that things run pretty smoothly at the moment: The most powerful god is on the side of the humans, the Radiant Dawn seems capable of handling the magical threats, the border guards keep most of the orcs in the swamp, the dwarves may be treated like second rate people, but they're not about to revolt.

The world is "safe." Not many things lurk outside the swamp, and the few dangerous things that do appear are usually killed by professionals. That is until [plot hook] happens. For the most part, this world is the safest place for commoners I've seen in a long time. Not much less safe than our world. The only real threats are people. Well, until plot hook happens at least.

- Are there factions among the elves and dwarves who are ready to use violence to change the status quo?

Among the dwarfs? No way. Unless your DM says otherwise, I guess. Among the Elves, probably. There isn't in the game I am going to run, but the Wyld Elves do the bare minimum they have to in order to comply with the King. I could see them starting a civil war, that then recalls the Kir'Hai raiders, and then opens for an invasion from the Swamp.


Now, counter questions.

What can I do to fix the keycard so that it doesn't break suspense? I thought of all mages having an arcane signature that can be used to bypass gates, but I want there to be magical gates underground that only some mages can get through. Something attuned to the gate, or possibly by having the gate attuned to them. These "Gates" are actually disintegration fields.

I'll cover everything else with more care later, I need to run to class now.

[darklink_shadow]

Update: I have done my posting based on your comments. Did I cover everything well enough? And please get back to me about the wooden keycard thing. Attuned Crystals perhaps?

[runestone]

That looks good. The description of politics makes it much easier to understand the humans.

I don't think you answered my question concerning the potentially cannibalistic elves. Did you?

- Who watches the watchmen? What keeps the Radiant Dawn in check? They are the most powerful organization in the known world and everybody distrusts magic, so what's being done to control these guys?

Nobody. Nothing. They are taking care of it, don't worry your pretty little head, the Dawn is looking out for you, my friend. They have your best interests at heart. Trust them.

Happy to hear that, I was worried for a moment.

I was thinking that the church/spies/army/king might potentially get worried.

The biggest thing from keeping a power hungry rogue mage from doing anything too crazy is the legion of equally if not more powerful mages that would stop any troublesome people. Unless, of course, that person were to rise through the ranks of the Radiant Dawn's Inquisition chapter to become a high ranking member. That would be a plot hook to deal with.

Sounds good.

Well, the Swamp has Orcs, Ogres, Goblins and X, where X is whatever the DM says. It might have temples to evil gods, or other plot hooks in it. In my own game, █████████ and ██████ is ██████████ and, ██████████████████████ swamp! ██████████████████████████████████████████████████ ███ so the players █████ have to ███████████████. But each DM will have their own story to tell, and the Swamp is where all evil lurks.

I don't even know how you do that.

- Is this world a dangerous place in general? I get the impression that things run pretty smoothly at the moment: The most powerful god is on the side of the humans, the Radiant Dawn seems capable of handling the magical threats, the border guards keep most of the orcs in the swamp, the dwarves may be treated like second rate people, but they're not about to revolt.

The world is "safe." Not many things lurk outside the swamp, and the few dangerous things that do appear are usually killed by professionals. That is until [plot hook] happens. For the most part, this world is the safest place for commoners I've seen in a long time. Not much less safe than our world. The only real threats are people. Well, until plot hook happens at least.

Excellent. That was the impression I was getting. Just wanted to make sure I got it right.

- Are there factions among the elves and dwarves who are ready to use violence to change the status quo?

Among the dwarfs? No way. Unless your DM says otherwise, I guess. Among the Elves, probably. There isn't in the game I am going to run, but the Wyld Elves do the bare minimum they have to in order to comply with the King. I could see them starting a civil war, that then recalls the Kir'Hai raiders, and then opens for an invasion from the Swamp.

Right, stupid question about the dwarves.

What can I do to fix the keycard so that it doesn't break suspense? I thought of all mages having an arcane signature that can be used to bypass gates, but I want there to be magical gates underground that only some mages can get through. Something attuned to the gate, or possibly by having the gate attuned to them. These "Gates" are actually disintegration fields.

I don't think you really need to fix it. It was just something that felt wrong to me, and others probably think differently. The key card just made it feel too much like a Bond villain lair to me.

I have absolutely no problem with the gates, and the key could be anything, really. A crystal, a ring or a tattoo would just work better for me.

[darklink_shadow]

Ah, cannibalistic elves. You know what, yeah, now that I think about it, they probably wouldn't waste the meat. At very least, they'd use the meat to make fishing bait. But they'd probably eat most of the flesh, and use the brains and guts to fish.

And the wooden key card is now a magically attuned crystal.

[runestone]

Sounds good. Let me know if there is anything else you would like a comment on.

[darklink_shadow]

Anything else you think needs more work. Anything you'd like to know before I run this game with you in it, for example.

Anything you'd like to know before you run this game without me in it, for another example.

[OzzyKP]

Artifacts of the Races:

The Blade of Kings:
The mystical blade of the famed king Aldrick Rah I. It was lost when Aldrick Rah XII went to war with the swamp, entering it to defeat the monsters within once and for all. After this grand struggle, the king never returned, but it was nearly 30 years before the orcs attacked again. In this struggle, Aldrick Rah XII took with him a trio of the kingdom's finest warriors, triplet dwarves, a pair of the most powerful elven clerics, and the Archmage Allimadrus, a human wizard with power unrivaled in any now, past or present. None of them returned.

Did you mean to say Rah XIII instead of XII for the second struggle? You said Rah XII never came back, but next sentence he is disappearing again in another battle.

I like your books of the divine.