Okay, in this thread I’ll post all the basic maps and setting information. Because I don’t want you guys to have to read an entire novel before you can play in the game. I won’t post pages of setting history in advance, instead it will develop itself as the game progresses. The game will take place in a homebrew setting, in elvish lands. Although there is a fast world outside of these lands with many other races and nations, it won't be touched upon in this game, so that means you are basically free to create your own backstory where your character comes from, if he isn't an elf native to these realms. Although it's a "homebrew" setting, it will follow much of the standard assumption of 'standard" D&D cultures, the cosmology and the way magic works. We'll also use the 'standard' D&D Pantheon
Map of Alfheim
The game takes place in an area called Alfheim, realm of the elves. You are foreigners, coming to Alfheim for the great Rite of Spring. You’ve either come by land, joining one of the caravans that come from the North, over the mountains or you’ve come by boat and have likely arrived in Alfheim at the ports of Hana. Either way, your journey has brought you to the city of Eolo, home to the Sylvan Elves and their Queen Loreley.
Each hex is approximately 15 miles wide.
So, the map. Green means forest, grey are mountains. The red circles are the largest elf settlements. Yellow circles are gnome settlements and blue ones are dwarf settlements.
Eolo is the main Sylvan elf settlement. Ruled by Queen Loreley, it’s where the largest events are during the Springrite and it's were the game will start.
Phaelallon is the largest Drow settlement.
Hana and Chaia are both High Elf settlements, while the plains of Airith are where nomadic tribes of Grey Elves live, ruled by their king Iston the Erudite. Tyanthe is a gnomish settlement, belonging to a xenophibic gnome king. There is a large dwarf settlement in the mounains too, Dorth-Gimest, but the elves have little contact with the dwarfs..
A short history of Alfheim and the world (slightly biased towards an elvish point of view
The world is both young and old. The countless years that have passed since the beginning of the universe have seen hundreds of generations of elves, but more than thousands, even millions of generations of other races have lived and died in that same period. In a way this separates elves from the other races, because world history isn't something collected in dusty tombs, it's not just the source of ancient legends and myths. It's part of who they are. They've lived it, yet even for the elves, history is often ignored and forgotten.
Alfheim didn't always belong to the elves. To fully grasp, to understand the perspective of the elves, we need to go back to the beginning of time. Long ago, the world was created by a group of primordials or overdeities. The primordials were responsible for the creation of the Great Wheel: the inner planes, consisting of the prime material plane, the positive and negative energy planes and the elemental planes, combined with the outer planes and the etherial plane. Not much is known about these overdeities, only that they abused their powers and that the world suffered and that the current deities, concerned for the welfare of the world, overthrew them. At least, that's what those gods tell us what happened.... They built a prison and locked the primordials up somewhere on one of the outer planes, never to see the light of day again.
After becoming rulers of the world, the gods quickly claimed jurisdiction over certain parts of the world. Some of them, united, calling themselves the Seldarine or "Brothers and Sisters of the Wood". While the other gods squabbled, they worked together to make the lands full of lush and green and beautiful, this was Alfheim. In addition they created, in their image, the elves - the first sentient race to set foot upon the earth. They had crafted the elves with thought and care and had given them extraordinary beauty, and for a couple of generations, the elves lived in peace in Alfheim and everything was good. The other gods became envious though, even enraged, at the sight of the glory and splendor of the elves. Each tried to mimic what the Seldarine had done and created lesser copies of the elves, the other races. Each one flawed in different ways, since those gods didn't invest the time and energy that the Seldarine had done.
The other Gods remained envious and a second divine war started, one between the Gods themselves. One faction, led by the Orc God Gruumsh, the other by the Seldarine. Meanwhile, the gods had little time to look to the earth and the Seldarine could not protect the elves. Lizard men, led by their god Semuanya, took advantage of this situation and marched into Alfheim, and killed and enslaved the elves, turning the woods and forests into swamps and marshlands. The Time of the Lizard Men had come.
Eventually, the Godswar ended, yet all the Gods had been weakened and the Seldarine didn't have the power to help the elves, they were on their own. For generation they were enslaved in the different lizard kingdoms of Alfheim. This changed 1500 years ago, when the different sub-races of elves united and rebelled against their lizard masters and drove them out of Alfheim. It was a huge massacre and no lizard man was left alive. The elves wanted to see blood, revenge for all those years of enthrallment. Now, 1500 years later, Alfheim has slowly been restored to its former beauty and the elves, at least most of them, no longer think of the the lizard men, who they drove to extinction. Other races, in other parts of the world are advancing, kingdoms of men and orc are rising and some might say that the glory days of the elves are over, but not the elves. They know that here, in Alfheim, the era of elves has really only just began.
