Adventuring Tip #1: Visit the group index if you want to see a more in-depth explanation of anything on the group site!
SETTING.
WELCOME TO ARCANIA.
JUST THE BASICS
The year is 122 After Dawn, one hundred and twenty-two years after the end of the Great War.
The Great War was a centuries-long battle that all the people of the world fought against Witches and the Nightmares, creatures of pure destruction born from a cataclysmic event that took place thousands of years ago.
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The races of Alterra managed to defeat the Nightmares after generations of strife. However, defeating the Witches and their Nightmares did not wipe away the existence of a dark magical power known as Malediction. Nightmares and other monsters still exist, and so a new division in the worldwide social class was created: Adventurers and Magicians.
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Adventurers are people each with a unique magical gift who have sworn their employ to a Guild. It is their destiny to protect the land and everyone within it from the looming encroach of Nightmares, fueled by the slow return of Malediction.
STORY.
A HISTORY OF THE WORLD...
Welcome, adventurer, to a magic and verdant land blessed with the favor of the gods.
This is a story about a world named Alterra.
Long ago, this world was sundered by a great and terrible darkness that poisoned the viridescent land and spilled the blood of its precious, called only by its dreadful epithet: the dark and evil power of Malediction.
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From the practice of Malediction came the Nightmares. The Nightmares were ugly, hungry things - and those who desired to share in their monstrous powers soon turned wicked and wrong as them.
Heartless, they swallowed the body and souls of all they came across. As they clawed from the loam, the skies of Alterra wept with eternal night.
Finally, at the edge of the end, the people of Alterra joined hands with one another. Their pact of alliance birthed a new hope - a magic ritual powerful enough to beat back the darkness and call once again upon the light: the power of the Soulbond.
These heroes and the way they saved the world was written forever in an old manuscript, penned by one among them. Though their names were lost to time, that manuscript is known now throughout the world.
It is called The Book of Magic.
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Though the heroes of yesterday saved the world once, its Nightmares still stalk the lands of Alterra, an ever-present reminder that the wounds of the past are not so easily healed.
These creatures survive on, wreaking destruction as is their nature.
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In time, Alterra has come to know that Malediction is not defeated yet.
It was for this purpose that the Arcanian Adventurers’ Guild was formed, drawing both grand warriors and modest explorers alike to its gates in order to achieve its mission: to protect the people of Alterra, to hold the new Arcanian frontier, and to carry on the legacy of the Book of Magic.
OPTIONAL
READING
atlas
ALTERRA.
THE REALM OF MAGIC
Alterra is a land of kings and queens, of knights and dragons, of mystical forests and fairy fountains—there are adventures to be had around every bend of the river. No modern-day technology exists, but each of the five great civilizations in Alterra have developed their own forms of technology and convention using magic.
As a land created and sustained by deeply complex and mystifying powers, Alterra cannot quite be thought of in usual terms; while the everyday basics of life are similar to that of Earth, physics in Alterra are ruled by magic. Many different biomes, environments, geographies, and architectures can exist nonsensically alongside each other. Though there are five ‘great’ civilizations, there are hundreds more yet of smaller secret worlds to behold.
All across Alterra, the different kingdoms also maintain Guilds, which employ a special class of magic-wielding warriors called Adventurers. Adventurers are charged with taking on Quests and Missions from their Guild of employ, which are consigned to the Guild from either citizens of the land, rulers of the kingdoms and cities, or taken upon by Guilds themselves.
MAIN SETTINGS.
ARCANIA: THE NEW FRONTIER
Arcania is the newest region to join the Alterran map. Long ago, its lands were poisoned by Malediction, which turned it into a swampy, uninhabitable landscape that remained barren for centuries.
After life returned to the land, the people of Alterra collectively ruled that it would be given to the jurisdiction of humanity, who had sacrificed their connection to Earth in the perils of war. Following this, an international drive to purge the realm of remaining Nightmares and to help establish the land of Arcania began.
Now, 122 years following the end of the war, Arcania is just beginning to find its feet. Civilization has been established in a number of holds throughout the kingdom, yet much of the land remains untamed and unexplored. Most of Arcania is still a frontier, fraught with dangerous monsters, beasts, and Nightmares. As such, the land is in dire need of Adventurers willing to take up the task of aiding the kingdom. The Arcanian Guild of Adventurers was founded for this purpose. The Guild maintains central branches in every Arcanian city-state, with one main location in the city of Grand Lune proper.
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For the safety of Alterra, it is imperative that the frontier be defended at all times.
GRAND LUNE
Grand Lune is famous both within Arcania and on an international stage. As the largest city-state among all the settlements of humanity, it is often the site of many important political events, as well as a destination for all types of people throughout the world. Compared to the cities of other great kingdoms, Grand Lune is also unique in that it maintains a far more diverse citizenry than the rest, its population very evenly formed of each of the five races.
It is hailed as a city of opportunity in a land full of potential, and its healthy population of Adventurers ensures a strongly flowing economy in all seasons of the year. Located in a geographically advantageous position, it can be reached by sea, by land, or even by airship. Though Arcania has many obstacles yet to face, the people of Grand Lune are resilient and full of determination, therefore boasting some of the most bustling taverns in the realm of Alterra.
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Newly arriving Adventurers typically live in the Adventurer’s Guild Hall, as room and board there are free to all employed by the Guild. Accommodations may be to any variety of expectations, but particularly renowned or wealthy Adventurers may find themselves homed in higher floors with more opulent chambers. Everything an Adventurer might need could be found within its walls, including a smithery, armory, tavern, bathhouse, and merchanting hall.
THE GREAT RIFT
The Great Rift is a massive underground networking of caves and dungeons, separated into hundreds (if not thousands) of ‘floors’. These floors stretch to dizzying depths beneath the surface world, each labyrinth of caverns more mysterious than the last. It is believed that the Nightmares remaining in Alterra may be spawning from or hiding out in these dungeon systems, and for that reason expeditions into the Great Rift can be very dangerous.
However, loot recovered from the Great Rift is exceedingly rare aboveground, and often supplies materials for very important products needed by people on the surface, such as thaumaturgic crystals, ingredients for medicine, and priceless historical artifacts. As such, missions into the Great Rift are dangerous but necessary.
WORLD KINGDOMS.
HOMELANDS FOR NONHUMANS!
ASTELIA
LAND OF ANIMALIS
Animalis characters can come from anywhere within Astelia, and any number of lifestyles and backgrounds can be found here. Its capital city is King’s Bounty, the largest and most populous city in all of Alterra, and home to the royal palace. Astelia is a tremendously broad and colorful kingdom, large enough that it would take multiple lifetimes to see all that it has to offer. There is a vast variety of different cultures and settled regions within Astelia, but all are banded together under one nation and one crown.
JEWELIA
LAND OF AETHYREAL
Jewelia is an island nation spanning across a large archipelago, having a number of different biomes that provide homes for its many citizens across different elemental regions. Typically, an Aethyreal spends their adolescence - if not their entire life - in their home region. More rarely, Aethyreal may live in other elemental territories, but generally find it difficult to fit in there. The largest settlement of Aethyreal is the capital city of Sylvangarde located in a temperate valley by the oceanside. Sylvangarde is one of the few cities among Alterra where one would see very few other races, as the Aethyreal tend to be reclusive from non-elven races.
ReveLIA
LAND OF CLOCKHEART
Revelia is a somewhat small nation composed entirely of one singular but massive city settlement kept afloat high in the sky with magic. The city is divided into hundreds of different floors and layers, each built with magic upon the last. Clockhearts are each free to choose what level within the city they prefer to live, with inorganic-bodied Clockhearts more commonly preferring lower levels and organic-bodied Clockhearts preferring higher. It is extremely uncommon for any other races to grow up in Revelia, given that its conditions are usually untenable for the needs of organic lifeforms.
ELYSIA
LAND OF RADIANT
Life in Elysia can be very rigid, as the Radiant who live there favor the goddess of creation and order, Concordia. Though most everyone’s needs are attended to by the body of the Elysian military, the culture of Elysia is highly emphasizing of a ‘one for all’ mentality. The largest Elysian city is the capital, Templar. Newly resurrected Radiant awaken in the Hall of Divines, within the temple. Everyone in Elysia is expected to do their part for the greater good. Individuality can be difficult to cultivate here, but the vast majority of people here are kind.
ASPHODELIA
LAND OF APOCRYPHAL
Asphodelia is located in the large valley region between Elysia and Stygia. It is a peculiar land, welcoming to most any, and typically forgiving of most all different types of people. Most people in Asphodelia keep to themselves, and there is no one prevailing cultural value or identity save for the widespread worship of the god Vacuo, patron of the void. Though Asphodelia can be an accommodating place, it is also a complex one; the Apocryphal are often made up of former Radiant and Infernal. Asphodelia is one of the rare places where a Radiant and Infernal might put aside their historical differences and live side by side… but this does not mean that they always get along.
STYGIA
LAND OF INFERNAL
In Stygia, the law of the land is ‘all for one’. Good people live in Stygia just as they do anywhere else, but their trust is typically hard-won and may even come at a steep price. Stygian citizens enjoy the greatest personal freedoms out of all the Eidolon kingdoms; you are free to pursue any dream of your own, but whether you sink or swim is up to you, and there will be few people there to catch you should you fall. Stygians typically worship the god of destruction, Malitia. Newly resurrected Infernal awaken in the Hall of Shades. This temple is located in the largest Infernal city in Stygia, called Adamantine. Its buildings are large, imposing, and wrought of obsidian stone.
‘Underworld’ is the name given to the underground regions of Stygia, an opulent but cutthroat place. It is entirely underground, a network of depths filled with some of the most treacherous cities in Alterra. It can only be accessed by traversing deep through Stygian territory to find the Gate of Underworld, a massive doorway built into the land surrounded by mountains and lush fields. Step through this gate, however, and you may never find your way back out.
Stygia proper is a harsh land, yet its Underworld is harsher still. Its geography is quite dark, and light within must be made by magic or fire. Though it is underground, it is both harsh and palatial in different aspects; great palaces exist here just as underground rivers and caves do, as well as entire cities. Most of the populated area of Underworld is breathtakingly beautiful, its fantastical cathedrals and halls and pillars stretching so far overhead that one may forget to miss the skies.
In Underworld, one must always live on close guard. Political intrigues and savage duels are a daily way of life there, and if one cannot overpower their enemies, they must be able to outsmart them to survive. Assassinations, schemes, and plots are neverending and entirely common, though Underworld maintains its own laws such that these machinations must be conducted under the table. Some of the wealthiest families in all of Alterra live in Underworld, and even world leaders must sometimes visit - seldomly, though, lest they risk a knife in their back should they overstay their welcome.