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Welcome to The World of Stars
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I haven't found the right setting yet. Which isn't to say that they aren't wonderful in their own way, of course. Your favorite Dungeons & Dragons settings all have something going for them. My personal favorite is Dragonlance. My entrée into the genre was through Krynn, and it still holds a special place in my heart. I also have things that I love about Forgotten Realms, Mystara, Planescape, Ravenloft, Blackmoor, Scarred Lands, Dark Sun, Spelljammer, and Eberron, among others.
I also have things that I love about the granddaddy of them all, Middle Earth. We all owe a great debt to The Professor, and to other fantasy settings that haven't made it to mainstream role playing games (yet) by LeGuin, Brooks, Pratchett, Feist, Green, Vance, Lewis, Alexander, McCaffrey, Butcher, Rowling, Pullman, and others.
Not to mention real-world cultural bits and pieces ranging from Greek gods to Christian mythology. Oh, and things like Arthur, Beowulf, and their heroic kin.
Anyway, I want to write my own stories, set in my own universe. I want to build my own characters, and build on my own ideas. All of which ultimately sits on a foundation made by others, of course. Good writers borrow, great writers steal. So, with the immense heritage I outlined above, what to steal; er, keep, as a foundation?
Here's the idea. I want to build a Dungeons and Dragons setting. Maybe I'll write stories set there someday; maybe I won't. No plans, no pressure. I want to make the setting compliant with the System Reference Document, or SRD; the open-source rules summary available for the game. The SRD contains all of the "crunch" of the game; the hard numbers that make up the core rules. What it DOESN'T contain is the "fluff" of the game; the descriptions, backstory, and setting. That's where I work. My challenge (to myself) is to throw out the fluff from the Player's Handbook if it doesn't work, but build a setting that's SRD-compliant.
I want the setting to be fun. If it's completely different from anything that's gone before, great! If it's a blatant ripoff of Tolkien, or Hickman, fine. Keep what works, build the rest from scratch, as long as it's fun for me.
I want the world to make sense to me. To be internally consistent. Not be constrained by what came before. Let's see how it goes.
The Creation of Astaria
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In the beginning, there was only a swirling void of chaos. Suddenly, the void became self-aware. The chaos could not tolerate it, and a tremendous release of magic occurred, which shattered the substance of the sea of chaos into an infinite number of sparkling shards: Stardust. This Stardust is the fundamental stuff of creation, from which everything else would be formed. The remains of this stardust provide the power for magic, even today.
Over time, millennia beyond counting, The Stardust began to condense under the influence of the various outer planes. As this power reached a critical level, the gods were born. Where the Stardust was drawn towards the raw elemental power of the inner planes, dragons came to be. Seeing this, the gods combined their powers and formed the world. The left over energy from this great effort formed the vault of stars overhead. The gods captured the light from the stars and formed the very first souls, encasing them in forms drawn from the substance of the world below. These were the races that we still know today, including men, dwarves, goblins, and elves.
Since the dragons were born at roughly the same time as the world and its gods, they do not consider themselves mortal beings like the creations of the gods. Though of course, they can still die through violence, accident, or illness. Magic is a fundamental part of their being. As time went on, dragons would take the form of mortals and walk among them, mostly out of curiosity. A few even produced offspring with them. These were the first true sorcerers, beings who were mortal but with the blood of dragons in their veins. They could cast spells with little thought or effort. Over time, the mortals turned their wonderful minds to studying this power, and became the first wizards. The elves were the greatest of these, with centuries to work out the words, gestures, and materials that would create each magical effect.
The humans saw the power that the elves had achieved, and wanted a shortcut. They found it in lesser magical beings, such as devils, fey, and angels. These warlocks combined their own power and knowledge with that of their patrons. In addition, large numbers of aasimar and tieflings were born, as well as a new crop of sorcerers with unique powers. Meanwhile, the goblinoid species began to unite. They started to regularly lose fights to humans, elves, and even gnomes wielding magic. Seeing this power as coming from chaos, they chose to embrace order instead. Goblins chose to focus on industry and machinery, hobgoblins chose to focus on warfare and governance, and the bugbears chose to focus on meditation and the acquisition of knowledge. This combination made them a force to be reckoned with the world over.
Orcs found their strength in stealth and speed, trading and raiding. They spread out from their island homes across the seas, amassing a huge armada of ships. They found magic in their beloved music, becoming the first true bards. They raised sneaking and thievery to a high art, becoming rogues of great renown.
The dwarves became a force for creation, pulling out the treasures of the world such as metals, gems, clay, wood, and glass and turning them into works of art. In competing for resources and customers, they became mighty warriors. These mercenary forces were feared across the globe.
All of this happened without much notice from the mighty dragons. Ruling over every corner of the world, they viewed mortals only as sources of food and wealth. They were secure in their power, wielding both magic and physical might to keep control of the face of the world. This all changed with the revelation of the Triad. While 16 of the gods had been known to mortals since creation, three were unknown. The gods of magic, industry, and nature coalesced from Stardust with the influence of the Astral Plane, the Feywild, and the Shadowfell. This meant that they had no place in the original creation of mortal souls, making contacting mortals almost impossible. Finally, the Triad of gods worked together and revealed themselves to three humans. These humans formed new cults which began to spread rapidly, upsetting the established order of the world. The dragons noticed, and began attempting to destroy the new orders. This triggered the Dragon War.
Slowly but steadily, the various races of the world allied with each other, contributing their strengths to pushing the dragons back. Eventually, dozens of the great wyrms were slain, and they were confined to the Starheart Mountains in the south. With the dragons defeated, the great powers then turned on each other, or inward. The elves overthrew their royal family. The orcs abandoned their overland trade routes, retreating to the seas. The goblinoids conquered a vast territory, driving out the gnomes. The dwarves returned to their city states, fractioning and building walls against the rest of the world. Humanity scattered, although the champions of the triad returned to their homes, forming the three nations known as the Great Powers in the process.
The sole surviving artifact of the unity birthed by the Dragon war was the Guild of Magicians. Recognizing that knowledge of magic was what began the world's rebellion against Dragon kind and made their victory possible, all peoples united to preserve the practice of magic, explore its possibilities, and ensure its responsible use.
The dragons, for their part, are still licking their wounds. In truth, they learned almost nothing from the war, still convinced that mortals are unworthy of their respect. They curse the gods, blaming the Pantheon for their ill luck. With no mortals to press into service, they created the Dragonborn. This allowed them to further retreat into the insular politics of their council. The Dragonborn, in the meantime, have been growing steadily more numerous and more powerful, and gaze from their mountain homes across the lands lost to their masters, that they regard as their birthright. With the other peoples all but lost to bickering and suspicion, perhaps the time has come to claim them again.
Creation of the Races
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Soon after the creation of Astaria, the gods met with the dragons. Each wished to create new life upon the world. The gods wielded immense magical power, but the wyrms laid claim to the world, as its bones were formed from their kin. Besides, the dragons were familiar with physical matter, and were too many to easily fight. And so, the gods and dragons resolved to work together in creating the many plants and beasts of the world.
This work was good, but each wanted more. The dragons still envied the power of the gods to create their will, while the gods yearned for creations truly their own, free of the dragons' influence. Thus, a new bargain was struck. The dragons were given the Starheart, an immense gem composed of pure Stardust, to which each of the gods gave a fraction of their power. In return, the gods were given seven days to work their will directly on the world, and swore an oath never to do so again.
The gods agreed that on each day, they would form a dozen members of a single, new race, and then rest at night. Thus would seven new races come into being, to work the will of the gods upon the world.
First to be formed were the Meraluk, carved from blocks of peat. This material made them crude and irregular, with many distinct shapes emerging. Their origin meant that they would forever carry within them a certain darkness, and that they would be a people hard to hold together, but rich with potential.
On the second day the gods formed the orcs, made of sand and sea water. This kept them forever on the edges of the world, sailing the oceans that ran through their veins, and as unpredictable as the skies and storms over the seas.
Wanting more complexity, on the third day the gods wove together reeds from the riverbank to form the burrowmen. The intricate construction required that these people be small, but allowed them to weave themselves into any culture or circumstance. The river water in their blood gave them a desire for travel, but the riverbank clinging to their roots gave them a love of the earth.
On the fourth day, the gods created elves. They were works of art, carved from the wood of oak, yew, birch, and elder. Each of these trees birthed a man and two women, and in a moment of inspiration, they were gifted with the delicate wings of birds. Elves still thrive in their beloved woodlands, connected to the animals so apparent in their own form. The wood that made them gave elves a strong affinity for a particular element, also making them strong but flexible, light but powerful.
With their skills strengthened, on the fifth day the gods carved the dwarves from solid rock. Some had sharper edged features like mountain peaks, while others had more rounded features, sculpted like rolling hills. All had a solidity that could be seen as either reliability or stubbornness, along with a love of rock, stone, and the deep earth.
Growing ever bolder, on the dawn of the sixth day the gods resolved to mold the gnomes of molten glass. Made from the things of the ground and shaped in molds of wood, they are comfortable in woods and tunnels alike. Crafted with great skill, they are great artisans, with a constant sparkle and a strong sense of both beauty and value.
The gods rested, intending to make their greatest creation on the final day. The dragons grew afraid, worrying that such a creation would surely steal the world from them. The treacherous wyrms hatched a plan. They silently spread their great wings over the sleeping gods, blocking out the sun's light. The gods slumbered on throughout the final day, dreaming of creations that would never be.
Just as the sun began to set, a tiny mosquito found a gap in the dragons' wings and bit the goddess Essek. Waking to swat the insect with her broom, she saw the sun and despaired. Waking her brothers and sisters, Essek thanked the mosquito and its bite by giving it the gods' own children to feed from forever more. The gods cast about for a material that could be shaped in the little time remaining, and they settled on clay. Working quickly, they wrestled to form the last creation before the light died. The creatures were not uniform, being thin and fat, large and small, light and dark. Finally, as the last of them was formed and the sun set, the gods had created humanity. Unfinished, but with great variety and a multitude of gifts, as malleable as the clay from which they were formed, with a quick and frantic lifespan, humanity was free to find its own way in the world.
With that, the gods' children awoke and beheld the stars.
The dragons then sought to create their own races, in imitation of the gods. From their own flesh and blood and in their own image, using the magic of the Starheart, each tribe of dragons formed their own creation. These were the Dracoine, the true children of the dragons, with magic racing through their veins.
Each of the dragon tribes sought to claim the greatest part of the Starheart's magic for themselves, and these arguments quickly led to fighting. The great wyrms tore into each others' bodies, reducing their own numbers in their frenzy. Where their blood struck the ground still pulsing with the magic of creation, the kobolds arose. This race, made by chance without intent or purpose, worship the dragons as their gods.
Finally, the strongest and wisest dragons remaining put a stop to the slaughter. Recognizing that continued infighting would only surrender the world to the gods, they agreed to form a council to guard the Starheart and govern the dragons. The Dracoine were their favored sons and daughters, given the gifts of learning and magic. The Kobolds were made a servitor race, used merely to labor in the pursuit of the Dracoines' will.
Their civilization established, the draconic races turned their greedy eyes to the lands around them.
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