A new world for 5e

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So I'm starting a new 5e campaign soonish, and have decided that I would actually go through the effort of constructing as much of the world as I could. I figure I'm going to mostly just be editing this OP.


Cosmology:

The gods:

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There is only one pantheon, and it's pretty sparse. That said, the gods do take a very active part in running reality, each competing with each other for some unknown purpose. But while temporary alliances may form between them, they all fight with each other.

Spoiler: Io, the Binary God, the God of Everything and Nothing, the Divided One, The Sleeping God

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Io is the god of dragons, and all things related to them. Io teaches that he has created the perfect beings in dragons, and that they are the rightful rulers of the world. Considering though that the dragon race has been in perpetual civil war since the start of the universe, well it can be hard to see his point. He does accept worshipers from other races, but each church in the other races receive contradictory instructions and tenants.

As such Io is unpopular, but is still deeply studied by philosophers and mages alike.Theorists believe that perhaps Io has gone insane, from the civil war, or that his insanity caused the civil war. Others believe that Io is actually a multitude of gods, all communicating through the same source. A third group believes that Io is actually asleep, and that the contradictory commands are the subconscious whims of a sleeping mind. Or perhaps he doesn't exist, and they are just receiving echos from the commands of the other gods. Or that he isn't a god at all, but the world itself, talking to those who can hear it.

The greatest mystery though is that none of the gods are saying anything about it. They won't even acknowledge his existence, not even to their high priests. Any prayers talking to them about Io are met with silence, and they've never given any command regarding any of Io's churches.

Thiassis, the Goddess of Tyranny, the Silken Manipulator, Goddess of Ambition, Slaver of Souls, The Goddess of Power

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Thiassis is a simple goddess. She wants it all. Everything and everyone should one day bow down to her. Those who are willing to help her in this are rewarded with the power to subjugate others. As such she takes worshipers from all races, and is pretty popular, particularly from the ambitious.

Her tenants are strict and harsh however. She demands regular worship, and sacrifices of both wealth and blood. Every year she also hands out instructions to her high priests and favored servants, telling them how to further Thiassis' glory further and what is expected of them. She teaches that the end justifies the means, and encourages her followers to do anything in order to achieve their and her goals.

She is also the goddess of the devils. She rules over them all, and often sends them to aid her servants or to complete missions of her own. Thankfully, summoning a devil requires a certain number of souls to be sacrificed, and Thiassis is loath to give up her possessions for anything but dire circumstances.

Chella, Goddess of the Sun, Holy Light, Bringer of Prosperity, Queen of Harmony, the Meddling Goddess

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Chella is basically exactly what you would expect. A very active force in the world she teaches people to help each other and fight evil. She's constantly encouraging people of all races to work together, and pointing champions of the light towards evil foes. As such she is very popular among many adventurers.

The god of secrets

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That is a secret!

Gaia, the God of Nature, Goddess of the Wild, Master of the Natural Cycles

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Typical Nature God really. Gender changes, and is pretty much neutral.

However while Gaia encompasses all aspects of nature (forests, oceans, mountains and more), her followers do not. They tend to focus on one aspect of nature above others, and believe it's superior and the true interest of Gaia. As a result her followers do tend to get into conflicts with each other more then against other gods, though the conflicts rarely result in full out wars.

Recently there is a sect that is claiming that it has learned the true nature of Gaia and that it is to travel in order to experience and protect all of the wild places. Naturally the other sects consider them heretics.

Cosmo Entelechelia, the God of dreams, Goddess of Will, Sultan of Sensation, Queen of Experiences

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Cosmo is a god who is concerned about the material plane more then any other. His tenants are all about going out and doing stuff. Unlike many gods, Cosmo does not forbid his followers much of anything, though he does have requests that he expects his actual clerics to follow. As such he is very popular among adventurers, young people, and thrill seekers.

Scum, the Tempter, The Deceiver, The Betrayer, The False God,

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If there is one thing that the gods all agree on it's that Scum is simply the worst thing to happen to reality ever.

See, Scum doesn't actually have any worshipers. Instead he pretends to be another god or goddess and gives false information to a group of worshipers, leading them astray from that god's dogma, and almost always resulting in religious conflict.

He sometimes also empowers insane individuals and gathers cults around them. For ****s and giggles apparently. Some people theorize that he is actually Io.

Luna, Goddess of the Moon, Protector of the Night, Bringer of Righteous Wrath, Smiter of Evil, Goddess of Vengeance

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Luna's tenants are simple. Seek out evil and destroy it. Use whatever means are necessary in this task, and keep as many innocents safe in doing so. Her whole philosophy is that the forces of good need to strike first and destroy evil before it acts, and that stopping evil for good comes before forgiveness.

She's a very active goddess, and is most popular among vigilantes, and adventurers who make 'questionable' decisions. She has a particularly infamous group in her service the Knights of the Night. They are a group of Vengeance Paladins who are constantly crusading and hunting down monsters.

Luna holds a particular hatred for vampires, and demands their destruction above all else. She claims that they are a curse created by Chelia as a personal insult towards herself.

More to come.

The Inner Planes

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The planes are the planes of course, none of the inner are actually different in composition or what they are like.

However they are different in how they are set up. The world lies at the center of everything. This is known by all. Travel far enough in one direction and you will find yourself knocking at the gates of reality. Quite literally, as passage into the elemental planes is governed by well guarded and warded portals.

The planes themselves are mostly the same, and are all interconnected, though the boundries between them are both incredibly dangerous and active warzones on top of that. However, the elemental planes are no longer infinite. If you travel far enough deeper and deeper into them, you will eventually reach Limbo. If the Material Plane is the perfect fusion of the Elements, Limbo is the is the ongoing birth of it all. The fabric of reality is constantly twisting and creating new things. Some unusual and bizzare, but weirdly, mostly frogs

But Limbo isn't the end of it. A particularly brave and skilled explorer can go further. Until they hit the Void, a black wall that marks the end of reality. The Void is nothing, and nothing exists in the void. Indeed, nothing can exist in the void. Any object or person that enters the Void is obliterated entirely. There is a lot of debate about the nature of the Void, but no one has really been able to prove things, one way or the other.

The Shadowrealms are easy to get to, in comparison. Like the elemental planes, it's simply a matter of walking, or in this case, digging. The Shadowrealms are under the world, and as you go deeper you will eventually hit the Shadowrealms. As such the Underdark actually works as a border to the Shadowrealms, as do the deepest seas. Immortal beings and ancient artifacts are often banished to the Shadowrealms, and as such it serves as both a prison and a sort of extra-planar dump.

The Feywild is similar in that it can be walked too as well. However unlike the others, it's position varies with the seasons and the lunar cycle. In the depths of the wild places you can almost always find a significant natural structure, be it a unusually tall tree, a particularly powerful waterfall, a whirlpool in the ocean, a pillar of stone in a desert, a particular peak of a mountain, and so on and so forth. Though generally, the way is open during a certain time, it can be forced open via magic.

Astral/Ethereal planes: No longer exist. Instead they are replaced with the Realm of Dreams. Everytime when you sleep your mind and soul is transported here. Your unconscious mind creates a 'dream bubble', a small sphere inside the Realm of Dreams. Inside the sphere, you experience your dream. The worst of predators can invade these dreams, though generally they have little long term success, as even the weakest of minds has domain inside of its own dreams. Powerful magic can do the same (Astral Projection Spell).

Rumor is that when a person dies, their soul spends a period of reflection here before they are picked up by the god they worship. Though the only evidence for this is that a revived individual does not remember travelling to the Outer Planes. If there is truth to it, and someone had a way to get to the Realm of Dreams, they could manually track down a freshly killed individual and interact with their soul.

Rule Change: The Planar travel spells instead bring you to one of these gates, or enterances in case of Shadow or Feywild Going to a outer plane is impossible with conventional magic.

Outer Planes

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These are roughly split into two groups, upper and lower.

Upper Planes: The realm of the gods. Sealed off by literal Pearly Gates, and guarded by angels and powerful souls alike. Those who do manage to gain access, never do return. The gods say that this is because once you've gained access to heaven there is no reason to return to the mortal world. After all what could reality offer you that could not be had in paradise? All gods claim that they live here.

Lower Planes: The realm of the demons and devils alike. The dumping place of the gods, where the wicked souls who failed their patron god are sent. Like the heavens, they are blocked off by literal gates, these of iron, steel and obsidian and guarded by Solars and divine souls of powerful paladins and clerics. Unlike the heavens, these guardians are more concerned about preventing things from coming out, then going in. They'll warn off explorers, but maintain a constant vigilance against those who would escape. And unlike the heavens, sometimes a damned soul, or powerful demon does manage to escape, leading to massive havoc in reality as it runs amuck, not bound by the rules and limitations that summoned creatures possess.

It's worth noting that all the other gods claim that their rivals inhabit the Lower Plains.

Races

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Elves

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Elves are weird. An elf might look like a human (with pointy ears), though with a tendency to be taller and thinner then humans, but they don't feel right. Their skin is cool and waxy to the touch and they never seem to blink or sweat.

Elves are broken up into two classes. Lesser and Greater elves. Lesser elves (sometimes called May Elves) are the most common. They comprise 99.9% of the elven population, but they only live for 30 years. They do most of everything and generally considered expendable by every elf, including themselves. They don't really age, so much as slow down, and at the end of their 30 years they fuse with wilderness around them, becoming a stone formation, a part of a coral reef, or most commonly, a tree.

Greater Elves are rare, but are thought to be immortal. They have certainly had individuals live for thousands of years. This immortality seems to be based off some sort of stasis effect, for even in death, a Greater Elf's body stays in the same condition. The Greater Elves generally are the rulers of the Elven race, guiding and commanding the Lesser elves. Greater Elves do not seem to forget anything, as such the oldest of them have many skills and powers that mere mortals do not.

Greater Elves are born normally, if rarely, but the source and orgin of Lesser Elves is a closely guarded mystery.

Adventurers: Lesser elves are more commonly assigned missions and jobs, and some choose to keep adventuring afterwards for the remainder of their lifespan. Greater Elves don't generally go on adventures, but some do. Some go with an entourage of Lesser elves to back them up. But sometimes a greater elf ends up isolated from elven society somehow, and must ally themselves with individuals from other races in order to survive.

Half-Elves

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Are incredibly rare. Most relationships between humans and elves are sterile (99% of the time). Of that 1% 99% of them result in still births, or children with horrible birth defects. Of that 1% 99% are basically humans with slightly pointy ears. But that final 1% is a legendary individual who possesses the immortality and wisdom of elves along with the adaptability and capability of the humans. Legendary is right though, cause they basically don't exist.

Dwarfs

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Dwarfs are short stocky, and have an affinity for earth. Mostly typical. The unusual thing is that dwarfs are monogendered and technically don't reproduce at all. Dwarfs have a natural affinity for creating magical items and artifacts. And creating a new Dwarf is a similar process. A particular mixture of stone, clay, and various metals are combined into a statue that is then animated through magic and blood. A dwarf might make 2-3 more dwarfs in his life time. In general dwarfs are very long lived, managing to live nearly a 1000 years before dying of old age.

Dwarves are limited by environment more then any other race. Without high quality stone to carve their young out of, they cannot reproduce. That being said, while there are great Dwarven hold in the mountains and the like, smaller quarries and towns that exist in the kingdoms of other nations aren't unknown or even particularly rare.

Dragons

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Dragons claim many things. That they are the first race, the greatest, the one true race, and that all other races were meant to serve them. They also all worship Io and claim that their form is the perfection that Io meant for the world. This has lead to the great Dragon Wars, an ongoing conflict between dragons for the fate of the world. Dragons form nations dedicated to Io, lead them against their rivals, and inevitably fall apart after a few thousand years. Since this process takes so long, the fighting is almost unnoticeable to the shorter lived races.

Dragons are immortal, and unlike elves continually grow and get stronger with time. They tend to live life in a sort of cycle. War Mode, where they battle and fight against other dragons and nations which can last for a couple of decades, >> Recovery mode, where they rest, heal their injuries, and go into hibernation which can last centuries >> Family mode, where they seek mates, lay eggs, and raise their young, which naturally takes centuries, >>Build mode, where they start collecting resources, building nations, conquering lesser races, and gathering armies which can take a century or two.

Basically, dragons exist on a whole other time scale then the other races. While a dragon won't reach it's full power until it's gone through at least two of these cycles, most civilizations won't last through one of them. As a result only the wisest scholars and the occasional Greater Elf even realizes that the cycle exists, particularly since dragons are not synchronized in their cycles, and any number of dragons can be in any number of the different modes at a time. It doesn't help that certain events can speed up the cycle and cause the dragon to enter a different mode (a group of adventurers may awaken a dragon early for example)

Dragons are not color coded for your convenience and can be of any alignment. They are split up into great clans, though after all this warfare, only 10 clans exist on a meaningful level, the 10 different colors of dragons. Other dragons still exist, but they are scattered and rare in comparison.

Kobolds

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Kobolds have a symbiotic relationship with dragons, and indeed, they claim to have been born from dragon blood. The dragons claim that they are a gift from Io, to dragons, in order to serve and protect dragons as best they can. Either way, the Kobolds have a strong kinship with dragons, and tend to serve them as best as they are able.

Generally they do this by populating and expanding dragon lairs into proper cities/fortresses. They mine, provide security, and provide back up to a dragon fighting off adventurers. In return the dragon protects them from wandering monsters, and teaches them valuable skills and magic.

Rule Change: Kobolds are a playable race, using these rules,

Charisma: +1
Dexterity: +1
Size: Small
Speed: 25 feet
Darkvision
AC: +1
Pack Tactics: The kobold has advantage on an attack roll against a creature if at least one of the kobold's allies are within 5 feet of the creature and the ally isn't incapacitated.
Sunlight Sensitivity: While in sunlight the kobold has disadvantage on attack roles as well as Perception Checks that rely on sight.
Sneaky: Kobolds have proficiency in Stealth
Guards and Messengers: Kobolds know the cantrip Message
Languages: Kobolds know Common and Draconic

Dragonborn

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Dragonborn are common in dragon ruled lands. They are an artificial race, where members of another race were infused with draconic powers in order to improve them. This transforms them into dragonborn. However after thousands of years, dragonborn have gotten together and formed civilizations of their own. So these days, it's actually more likely to find a dragonborn that has no relation to dragons at all.

Gnomes

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Legend is that gnomes were once kobolds. But they betrayed their draconic masters, slaughtering an entire clan in their sleep. Io cursed them, removing their skin and their powers, but in return the gnomes developed powers of their own, studying how to use draconic blood and how to craft magic of their own.

No one knows if the legend is true, but kobolds do have a massive grudge against gnomes and vice versa.

Orcs

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Orcs tend to stick to oceans, seas, and rivers. Generally nomadic, and generally fierce warriors, most orcs are relatively primitive civilizations that survive by raiding and living off the bounty of the sea. Some though create small cities and the like that members of other races can walk through peacefully.

Rule Change: Half-Orcs do not exist! Instead the Half-Orc rules will be used to represent full blooded Orcs!

Magic

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Magic is relatively common. Almost every town has some sort of priest, or druid watching over it. But while it's relatively common, in depth knowledge is still really rare. So it's unlikely for most NPCs to actually understand the magic going on. Similarly, really high level magic is very rare. Even moderately strong magic is rare.

Basically? A healing potion or spell might be able to be found about anywhere. Getting a plague cured? You'll have to track down someone. Need a resurrection spell? You'll be questing along multiple cities.

Necromancy

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Necromancy generally falls into two categories, gross and despicable. Zombies and Skeletons, well there's nothing really wrong with that, it's just magic animating a corpse. However, corpses walking around is both creepy and disgusting. Not to mention zombies have a nasty habit of rotting and becoming disease ridden lumps. So they tend to be rejected in most civilized places, though some cities use them as sewage workers, or road workers for the far off roads.

Intelligent undead, well now you are getting into sketchy territory. See that's basically trapping a soul in this world, and the religions have varying opinions on how bad that is, though very few of them approve outright of the matter. Some say that holding a soul on this plane and making it serve you can be seen as a form of purgatory. While others say that holding a wicked soul on this plane is preventing it from it's final punishment and can be seen as a sort of a good act. Some even argue that since the soul is immortal, and reality is not, it's merely a momentary delay on the journey the soul takes. Most though say it's a bad thing to do, especially since intelligent undead can maintain their existence on their own by feasting on mortals in some way, be in eating flesh (ghouls), drinking blood (vampires), draining energy (wraiths), or even eating souls (liches)

Summoning

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Summoning is a weird one as well. Basically it goes like this: Elementals are okay to bind, summon, or makes deals with. Celestials are okay to summon and make deals with, but binding them is considered evil. Demons are okay to bind and make deals with, but it's considered risky to summon. Devils are okay to summon and bind, but it's considered risky to make deals with them.

Of course, it can be easy to disguise which exactly you are doing.

Magic Items

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Magic Items require a source of power to make. But they don't really require magic. There are generally three paths to creating magic items.

1. Infusing them with your own power: This involves little more then massive skill, rare and quality ingredients, and a certain amount of the creator's lifeforce. In doing so you create a permanent magic item, that is a reflection of your current powers, but at a permanent weakening of your powers and skills. Generally only older craftsman and heroes do this, as younger ones are still trying to learn the skills needed to accomplish something worth while.

2. Sacrificing another in to infuse the item with power: Generally evil, as it involves killing another creature and binding it's power to the item at hand. Some would argue that some creatures deserve to be killed, but it's shaky ground. Particularly since it's clear the technique was taught to the mortal world by demons.

3. Bathing them in a natural and powerful energy source. Generally this involves sticking your hand into a leyline, or other powerful nexus of energy. Then you have to have the willpower and skill to control that energy and bind it to the item in question. This is very difficult and very dangerous to try, particularly since such locations tend to be well guarded.

Spoiler: The World

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Spoiler: The Town of Fakamusk

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A decent sized town, but mostly located inside a swamp. And on the other side is the sea. Fakamusk was once part of a territory owned by a Black Dragon Clan. As such it has a decent population of Black Dragonborn. The rest of the population is mostly humans, with the occasional elf and orc. The swamp itself is split into 4 territories. Fakamusk's territory, Bullywug territory (north of Fakamusk), Lizardfolk territory (south of Fakamusk), and kobold territory (west of Fakamusk). The Bullywugs have the worst relations with Fakamusk, occasionally raiding the town from it's deep swamps and marshes. The Lizardfolk are mostly content to just be left alone, but tend to hunt down intruders in their territory without mercy. Only the kobolds (who are based out of the old Black Dragon's lair), are peaceful enough to trade with, though they will go to the town, they won't allow anyone to actually enter their city.

Fakamusk makes it's money by trading exotic animals, animal parts, and plants from the swamp. They also get a good amount of food from the sea and swamp. As such it's people are pretty hardy, and used to exotic strangers. At the same time, metal is rarer, and well kept. It'd be hard to pick up a suit of armor, or even certain weapons without trading with the outside world. Beyond that though, the town is pretty isolated, and isn't part of a larger nation as a result. Therefore they also get a fair amount of pirates and other troublemakers trying to avoid the law. And as such, the guards are extra tough on troublemakers, sometimes outright executing criminals immediately if they are causing enough trouble.

Generally the dwarves that come to Fakamusk are traders and sailors, there to pick up goods to bring home. There is actually a good market in Fakamusk for dwarven goods, since it's so hard to get metal. And stony mountains, and mines are poor places to find the exotic materials Fakamusk likes to trade.

Red-Gold Mountains

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Encircling most of the swamps around Fakamusk, these mountains serve as a natural barrier that keeps moisture from the swamps and oceans trapped and inside said swamp.

The eastern range of the Red-Gold Mountains have long been under the control of the Gold clan of dragons. They had enslaved a clan of dwarves and created a mighty series of fortresses, mining deep in the earth to gather resources to equip their kobold armies and create mighty battle golems, as well as harnessing the most dangerous monsters of the underground to serve as crude weapons of war.

The western range is under the control of the Red clan of dragons. They've allied themselves with fire, stone, and hill giants. As well as many many ogres. These giants raid other kingdoms and cities, bringing back loot and supplies used to arm their own kobold armies, as well as all of the giantkin.

The two groups engaged in brutal wars for hundreds of years, lead by red and gold dragons. This finally cumulated in the Shatter Peak Battle, which took place at the largest mountain, directly between the two nations. The magical and physical forces unleashed were so massive, the mountain was destroyed, creating an easy pass out of the range. The battle was also incredibly devastating, nearly resulting in the total destruction of both armies.

Currently the pass (now known as Shatter Peak Pass) is controlled by a group of dwarves who claim to be ex-slaves from the gold mountain ranges. They've turned the remnants of the mountain into a massive fortress, dominating the pass. They've also begun a brisk trade with the lands on both sides of the pass, hiring many mercenaries to bolster their forces. Meanwhile the war has cooled between the Reds and the Golds with very few dragons being seen flying above their territories. These days most of the fighting is between the kobolds in both territories.

[BootStrapTommy]

Your Io is pretty awesome, I will say. Mad gods are always fun.

[DeadHunter]

Count me in. How many people and when were you thinking of starting?

[Fast Jimmy]

Count me in as interested.

In regards to the kobold light sensitivity, how often will this come up? Will we be adventuring in dungeons/at night so often it is a rare thing? Or should I expect to be making every Attack with disadvantage if I choose to play this alternative race?