This license applies to this page, as there are references to certain game systems: OGL.
This is a draft of something that will probably eventually end up in some product. In the meantime, if you enjoy this you might also like my adventure in the setting this is written for [5e] [13th Age].
Why a guide to the rest of the world?
My assumption is that player characters come from elsewhere, thus avoiding the awkwardness of later publishing something that contradicts the lore you came up with at the table. You don't have to, though, and the next actually published product will have some options for players who want to play those who already live in Létatujé. I'll also leave the areas outside of Létatujé only described in broad strokes, so that you can make them your own, or fit it into an existing campaign world.
Eventually, I will have an alternate character building method that de-emphasizes mechanical differences between races, and instead uses different aspects of your background. For now, you can replace any racial proficiencies you might have with equivalent ones below. I don't know if it's balanced, this is just a preliminary idea, feedback accepted.
Rest of the World
There were empires before on either side of Létatujé. At least two, maybe more. These empires have fallen, splintered. For some it was a disater; for others it meant freedom; for others it just means they pay their taxes to someone else now. Some empires might remain, but smaller.
TODO:
- Interesting example towns, villages, and locations in the Deep Wilds
- Mageflame icons
- Editing, art, layout etc
The Cities
Most cities are city-states, ruling at most the surrounding area. There might be clusters of cities rules by one monarch.
When inventing your own, here are some qustions to ask:
- What opportunities might you find in the city? Why would someone want to move there? Or why would someone be forced to stay?
- Why would someone be driven to leave; to flee; to travel to a more dangerous land?
- What was the city like in the time of empires?
- What ambition is causing the city to grow?
Hix, the City of Gold. Grown rich in a troubled time; full of art and joy and music and jeweled daggers; anything can be bought and sold, especially justice. Before you fled, who paid for you to die?
- Skills - general: artifice, performance, lies, trickery.
- Skills - that game: performance, deception, sleight of hand.
- Weapons: The rapier, the dagger, the longsword.
Silan, City of the Deathless Queen. Heir to the emperor via a circuitous lineage. Undying and in denial, goblets of blood make her immortal. A city of forgotten history, of forbidden magic, its inhabitants forbidden to leave or speak the truth of what lies outside. How did you buy your escape?
- Skills - general: ancient, forgotten and esoteric knowledge. Influence through fear.
- Skills - that game: history, arcana, intimidate
- Weapons: The flail, the sickle, the trident.
Oth, the Demon City.In ruin and given over to evil things. The brave and desperate live in the ruins, and those too poor to move away. They fight to regain it inch by inch, and the comradeship between mortals is deep and unbreakable. Why did you finally abandon your companions and leave? Was it better for everyone that way?
- Skills - general: living in the shadows, watching carefully for danger and the opportunity to live another day.
- Skills - that game: stealth, survival, athletics
- Weapons: the longbow, the javelin, the blowgun.
Xa, the City of Too Many Gods. The empire brought conquered gods here and now there is too much god-essence even for priests. Mortals dare not enter the city, and live in a ring around the outside. It is mostly temples and monasteries. What holy quest lead you to leave the city?
- Skills - general: Gods, god-knowledge, and providing the succor people come here searching for.
- Skills - that game: religion, medicine, insight
- Weapons: The morningstar, quarterstaff, mace.
The Merchant Cities of Har Ila. Small and scattered and growing, they offer walls and laws and safety. They, too, claim to be the heirs of the empire, though they can't necessarily agree which empire. All who do not follow their laws are criminals; ignorance of the law is no excuse, nor is living somewhere else in the world. You left as a merchant, mercenary, or expert for hire; do you want to return?
- Skills - general: trading, negotiation and deals, shrewdness and savvy, complex technology
- Skills - that game: insight, investigation, persuasion
- Weapons: The pike, the glaive, the lance.
Firan, the City of Heroes. The king is good. The king is noble. The king is righteous. The king singlehandedly saved the city and will singlehandedly lose it. It is small, impossible to defend, and beset by enemies. Did you leave out of despair, or because you could not meet the king's exacting standards of upright behaviour?
- Skills - general: physical strength and caring for your comrades, taking charge when needed
- Skills - that game: athletics, medicine, intimidate
- Weapons: The heavy crossbow, the scimitar, the war pick.
The Towns
There are many more towns than cities. These are places with space for a variety of industries, merchants and so on. A market, a proper temple or two. They might be associated with a city, or just the largest settlement in a more remote area. Let the player make the town their own; here are a few ideas.
Reasons to have left:
- Everyone knows everyone - and so if you make enemies or commit crimes, you might want to leave.
- You want more of something - more money, more adventure, more power.
- The town has a dark secret - a tyrant, a cult. There's nowhere to get away from it than to leave.
Town types:
- A pilgrimage site - a town has sprung up around a temple or holy place. Maybe a major festival is here? (Religion, performace, nature)
- A port town - fishing or pirates, or maybe military. (Perception, acrobatics, survival)
- A town on a river fork - a atrade route. (Persuasion, insight, animal handling)
- Agricultural - the biggest settlement supporting farmers or herders. (Nature, Animal handling, survival)
- A fort - perhaps from a war that is now irrelevant, but why let a good set of walls go to waste? Or maybe a refuge in dangerous lands. (Athletics, Intimidation, Medicine)
- A monastery - of the Infinite Scroll or somewhere else. A rare source of books and knowledge outside the cities. (Arcana, History, Religion)
Weapons: Pike, Heavy crossbow, quarterstaff
The Villages
These are smaller settlements in lands that have been greatly changed by mortals. Gods are still very important here as the success + failure are governed by the weather and other natural phenomena. Mostly centered around developing resources + trade with towns; largely indifferent to global politics. Reasons to have left are much the same.
Village types:
- A farming village (Animal handling, nature, athletics; Flail, sickle, sling)
- A fishing village (Acrobatics, perception, nature; Net, trident, spear)
- A pastoral village (Survival, animal handling, nature; longbow, lance, whip)
- A mining village (Athletics, investigation, medicine; warhammer, light hammer, war pick)
- A logging village (Athletics, nature, survival; handaxe, quarterstaff, battleaxe)
- A travel waypoint (Persuasion, insight, medicine; quarterstaff, pike, heavy crossbow)
The Near Wilds
Those from the cities, and maybe even the towns and villages, might call these places wild, but mortals still live and even thrive here. Most "wild" places in our world fall into this category.
There are no "barbarian" societies in this setting, you do not have to adhere to a particular social structure or style of technology to have a culture as complex and sophisticated as any other.
The town in the trees: Deep in the forest, carefully cultivated trees have had their branches woven together over the centuries to support a town, safe from the dangerous creatures that stalk these forests, or perhaps from the armies that sometimes march through. The dense foliage makes it hard to see, but it can be detected because the plants on the ground have been carefully and subtly cultivated to promote berries, fruits, nuts and other edible plants.
- Skills: acrobatics, nature, stealth.
- Weapons: The longbow, the net, the pike.
The sailboat plains: A fleet of land-sailboats on immense wheels follow the herds of something-or-other, which follow the wind. The secret of crafting these boats from the fine leather and bones of the something-or-other is carefully guarded, as is that of predicting the winds and navigating the plains. Perhaps you fell off a boat on a particularly windy day, and were lost as surely as though you were lost at sea.
- Skills: Animal handling, perception, acrobatics
- Weapons: The javelin, the glaive, the war pick.
The bog-war: Here, the dead do not stay buried. The living move on when someone dies lest the dead maintain old grudges. It is a place of deep relivious devotion, constant fighting, and strict laws against killing the living. The finest iron comes from here. It's probably obvious why you might have left.
- Skills: Religion, arcana, survival
- Weapons: Longsword, shortsword, spear.
The Deep Wilds
There is no equivalent in our world aside from myths and legends; maybe Antarctica?
Ordinary mortals do not live here; this is the domain of gods and spirits, of trees wider than houses, eternal fires burning in the desert, mountains that tower too high to breathe. Perhaps time does not flow the same way. If you came from here you almost certainly have some sort of supernatural attribute, whether you were born with it, were taken under the wing of something that protected you, or just absorbed it by eating the food here.
Tread carefully here, treat the gods with respect, because you cannot defeat them any more than you can defeat the wind or the sea.
- Skills: Arcana, Religion, Nature, Survival.
- Weapons: nothing any mortal has heard of.