The campaign world is a loose homebrew amalgam. It is neither Faerun nor Flanaess, but it may borrow bits of either or both. I will shamelessly steal stuff that looks interesting from other game worlds, or books, or real life. Many of the places in my world are drawn from TSR modules and Dungeon adventures.
I am starting this campaign on the western coast of a major continent, in a mild to temperate zone. Down below are a couple of maps, one of a large chunk of the continent, and another in the northern section where our campaign will begin; feel free to save yourself a copy and make whatever notes you would like. This map is kind of a work in progress; I freely invite all players to make suggestions and inventions about what exists in the world (cities, nations, cultures, etc). I reserve the right to edit or veto anything, and I will be the only one to make solid additions to the map.
The world is a fairly "standard" D&D world, based loosely on medieval Europe. Many of the uglier historical tidbits are glossed over or ignored...for instance, most peasants you will encounter in this game will be freemen, not serfs or slaves (slavery is in fact illegal in most places). Likewise, women are treated in a much more egalitarian fashion, literacy and cleanliness are higher, laws and rights are stronger, and so on.
The continental map covers roughly 35 to 50 degrees latitude; down in the south (Seapoint, for example) is a mediterranean climate, like southern Spain or the middle-east coasts. The place we'll be starting, near the norther part of this map, is about equivalent to Great Britain; they have cold winters, but not bitterly so.
For the record: my maps ARE roughly to scale. In paint (the only way I view or work with these maps), 1 pixel = 1 mile on the continental map, and 1 pixel = 1/3 mile on the local campaign map.
The Gods:
The following gods are worshiped commonly. This list is not meant to be comprehensive; there are undoubtedly minor deities and demigods worshiped in various places, as well as various demons and devils who some people worship, and crazy stuff like Tiamat. If you want to invent a god, just clear it with me first...I would prefer dieties based on real-world ones, rather than looted from other D&D settings.
Clerics do not worship a single god/goddess...generally, your cleric prays to various gods for various purposes, mostly to ones who match his own ideology. A good cleric might pray to Hyperion to cast Cure Light Wounds, to Ptah to cast Locate Object, to Enlil or Raiden to cast Control Weather, and so on. Most common people venerate all the gods.
Some gods are associated with particular alignment aspects (good, evil, law, or chaos); others aren't.
These are not human gods, dwarves and elves and stuff pray to these guys as well. Demihumans often put their own spin on things, though. For instance, the dwarves commonly pray to Vulcan and Enlil...but in statues and paintings, they depict them as dwarves. Likewise, elves always portray Freyr, Dianae, Anthea, and Hyperion as elves. Gnomes usually see Vulcan, Raiden, and Ptah as gnomes, and some sects portray Freyr as a gnome (and that his whole 'being god of the elves' thing is an elaborate trick he perpetrates on the elves). Halflings normally view Minerva, Enlil, Ishtar, and Anthea as halflings.
Humanoids (orcs, goblins, and such) are as likely to pray to demons or devils as they are to the gods, but many of them venerate Set, Yamai, and Azoth.
Main Pantheon:
- Vulcan (Fire, mining, metalwork, craftsmanship): A broad, muscular man in a leather apron, partly made of metal (one hand and forearm, part of chest, one leg) and with fiery eyes. Vulcan is a god of change, constantly refining, improving, building.
- Lir (Water, the sea, rivers, fishes): A powerfully built man with long flowing hair and beard of sea-green. Lir is a manifestation of impartial force, that can sweep away all before it.
- Freyr (Light, elves, grace and beauty, joy, magic and illusions) [good, chaos]: A slim, adrogynous man (woman?) dressed in white, nearly always bearing a long slim sword with a naked blade. Freyr is a god of pleasures, who beckons all beings to partake of the great joys of life.
- Set (Snakes, wickedness, darkness, black magic) [evil]: A tall, slender (but extremely muscular) man, bald and with slit pupils. Set is in many ways a dark side of Freyr, for he also represents vices, joys taken too far.
- Yamai (life and death, sleep and dreams, justice and vengeance): A huge man with green skin and 2 heads, one peaceful and the other monstrous. Yamai is a dual-natured god; he stands for the peace of sleep and the terror of nightmares, the violence of death and the peace of death (and how life has similar faces), the impassiveness of justice and the bloodlust of vengeance.
- Minerva (war, wisdom, victory, skill) [law]: A tall, stately woman with grey eyes, clad in bronze armor and robes and bearing a spear. Minerva preaches prudence, forethought, and moderation in all things. Minerva's role as a war goddess focuses on tactics, planning, and prowess with arms (in contrast to Ishtar and Azoth).
- Dianae (hunting, animals, nature, the moon): A petite woman with very long red hair and fierce eyes, appears no older than 18. Dianae favors the young, and believes people should die in the prime of their lives, like the cherry blossom.
- Hyperion (music, learning, healing, athletics, the sun): A tall, handsome man with hair like molten copper who carries a bow and a lyre. Hyperion is the patron of all the arts.
- Enlil (Air, winds, fair weather, rulership, nobility) [law]: A distinguished man with long hair and beard (no mustache), wears an axe at his belt. Enlil is in some ways the patron of men, and he works with all other gods, who look to him for leadership.
- Ishtar (Love, passion, fertility and childbirth, war) [chaos]: A very muscular, statuesque woman, beautiful with dusky skin and sun-gold hair. Ishtar believes in following the heart; as a war-goddess, she favors valor, rage, and ferocity.
- Volos (Earth, underground, dragons, wealth, gems): A squat man made of stone, with gems for eyes. Volos is at odds with Vulcan; he represents the untamed earth, filled with caves and creatures and minerals, while Vulcan favors those who delve in the earth to take it's treasures and use them.
- Raiden (Lightning, storms, birds, trickery, avarice, revelry) [chaos]: A man with raven's feathers for hair and bird's clawed feet. Raiden is a playful god, who dislikes seriousness or work, and would rather drink and gamble.
- Anthea (Agriculture, harvests, seasons, wine, life and rebirth, friendship between cultures) [good]: A slim woman clad in plants and growing things. Anthea and Yamai divide the souls of the dead between them...Anthea deals with those who reincarnate or return to the living, while Yamai shepherds the souls of the underworld to their final destinations.
- Azoth (Tyranny, torture, warfare, strife, struggle) [evil, law]: A broad-shouldered man in a faceless helm and robes. Azoth teaches that you should crush your enemies if they will not kneel to you. As a war-god, his focus is on discipline, command, and the horrors of war.
- Ptah (Travel, the stars, merchants, mathematics, writing): A tall man with jet-black skin, hair, and beard, and glowing eyes like stars. Ptah is the great traveler, and has seen the multiverse; his wisdom rivals that of Minerva, and his mastery of lore equals Hyperion's.
There are 364 days in the standard year of this world. In most of the civilized world, time is measured as follows.
There are 12 months (or moons) of 30 days each, and 4 days that belong to no month (the equinoxes and solstices). The months are:
- Snowing
- Freezing
- Melting
- Spring Equinox
- Waking
- Blooming
- Sowing
- Summer Solstice
- Joining
- Shining
- Turning
- Autumn Equinox
- Reaping
- Falling
- Frosting
- Winter Solstice
- waxing (half moon to full moon)
- waning (full to half)
- darkling (half moon to new moon)
- glowing (new to half)
Years are simply numbered; the current year is 766, and we'll be starting in late summer (Shining). Scholars know that this numbering comes from the fall of the Fionavar Empire, which spanned most of this part of the world.
(Note: I am currently using the lunar calendar of 2011...that is, 2011 is equivalent to game year 766, as far as moon phases go. So if you wish to know what the moon will be like at any point in time, you can look it up online, using the corresponding date.)