[Raven Bloodmoon]

Here it is. The latest and greatest attempt at a campaign setting I can be happy with. I think I will begin by pointing out the key features and then delving into each of them. My hope is to draw comments and suggestions about the setting as a whole. Now as a disclaimer, I need to warn that it will be quite house rule intensive, but I think it will all work out well anyway. So for starters, I will point out the main points that make this different from every other CS out there:

Animism
Rather than pursuing a traditional pantheon, people of Elyria practice a sort of animism. While there are deities of a sort, everything in nature is divine in its own way. Every rock, tree, mountain, and lake has a spirit, and these spirits are vital to survival. The deities of Elyria are spirits no different from those in a pine tree or a blade of grass, except in the scope of their power. The spirit of the sun is very powerful, whereas teh spirit of a tree may be of far more limited potency. Spirits are everywhere because nature is everywhere, and on a whole, the peoples of the world respect these spirits, even if the spirits rarely bother themselves with mortal affairs.

This animism does not attempt to explain what happens after death, but it has been observed that sometimes the dead become spirits themselves. As a result, a sort of ancestor worship has arisen. What communication there has been with the spirit world has revealed an overall urging to live in harmony both with nature and with fellow mortals. Wars are generally not viewed in a favorable light by the animism itself, but this hardly means that Elyria is a land at peace.

The teachings of the various temples, churches, and shrines across Elyria promote four ideals, but do not offer much in the way of a moral or ethical code. One is merely to ensure harmony with other mortals by promoting a strong tradition through strong familial bonds, practice good hygiene, honor the spirits, and live in harmony with nature. Debates over what is moral and what is ethical have plagued the many temples across Elyria. No one can quite come to an agreement on what is defined as good and evil except that which directly goes against these four tenants.

There are evil spirits in the world. These are usually referred to as demons. No one is certain as to where they come from, and they have never been recorded as speaking of their origins. Aside from individual characteristics, all that is known of them is their taint. Taint is the essence of the corruptive power of evil, and it manifests itself in a very real form in the world. While an evil act does not necessarily spread taint, particularly depraved occurrences may spread evil easily enough.

Empires at War
The land of Elyria is dominated by two large empires (yet to be named) who are currently locked in a stalemate for dominion of all of Elyria. Around their furthest extremities are a number of free territories who, because of their remote locations, are not under any sort of rule outside their own. Some are claimed by one side or the other or both, but neither empire finds it important enough to truly impose their will in these parts. As a result, more advanced magic and technology rarely reaches so far out as these territories; while deeper in the empires, magic and technology are at their most perfected states.

Magic and Technology Levels
On average, Elyria is of a similar magic and technology level as standard DnD, if not slightly more advanced in some areas. Because of the distribution of resources and the warring empires, magic and technology tend to be more advanced in the heart of each empire and at the front lines of the war. This normally takes the form of a high magic setting akin to that of Eberron, where magical rail systems create fast transportation through the heart of an empire and great skyships plow the clouds and rain hell and fury upon armies below.

In the bulk of the two empires, magic is as common as it would be in a typical DnD game. Fairly rare, but not so much so that no one has seen an mage, magic is available if you are willing to look for it. Technology is at a typical medieval point of development, with no gunpowder weapons. Explosives are used primarily in fireworks, mining, and sapping operations. Warfare may introduce the occasional explosive missile hurled via trebuchet or catapult.

In the fringe territories, magic tends to be sparse. It is more expensive, less abundant, and appears as more powerful. Technology usually is resorted to for everything from plowing fields to constructing buildings, to guarding towns. A sorcerer in a fringe territory is a sight to behold, and people may have mixed opinions of such people, depending on their nature.

Combat
The system for combat remains unchanged for the most part, but I am adding in the ability for people with adequate training to perform different combat moves. Combat moves will be at-will abilities that allow a person to do something, such as strike in a certain way, or run faster, or what not. They are generally extraordinary abilities that will require at least one skill check to properly execute. The philosophy behind them is that any person can pick up a sword and practice until he can swing it really hard and really accurately, but if that person were to receive focused training, he could do far more with his body than otherwise possible. Combat moves are those other things he learns to do.

Because this is a fantasy game and because it is just plain cool, there are supernatural combat moves that allow more spectacular actions to be taken. These still require skill checks to perform, but they also require an amount of chi be expended. Chi is the spiritual energy of a person, and is used to create magical and supernatural effects.

Magic
Magic is not as powerful as normal. It is far more utilitarian in nature. As a result, casters on a whole, suffer in spellcasting power. However, because they use chi (basically spell points, for most practical purposes) to cast spells instead of the traditional Vancian spell slots, spellcasters have far greater versatility and potential. The two spellcasting classes also grant a suite of class abilities beyond mere spellcasting capability.

Custom Races
There are currently four races in Elyria, but this number is not fixed. As is standard for fantasy games, humans are the dominant species. I am keeping this the case because if any other race were to be as populous or more populous, their impact as exotic or otherworldly would be diminished, in my opinion. These four races are the Delvani, Humans, Issra, and Kamians. Delvani are a wise plant people who remain very close to nature. Issra are a strange and mysterious race of Small, subterranean, earth-oriented humanoids that resemble short, round people often depicted in statues across Elyria; their main ability is to turn into a stone statue of themselves. Kamians are a group of shapeshifting nature spirits who are personifications of small animals.

Custom Classes
There are currently six core classes, each of twenty-five levels. This may sound odd, but I do not plan on using epic rules for epic levels. “Epic play” will begin at 20th level, like usual, but you will just continue progressing in your class. You will have the option to branch into other classes or PrCs, as well.

The six classes are as follows, and are still in the process of being wikified:

Ghostblade – combat move master
Rogue – this contains a variant that allows a person to play a non-combat rogue with bonuses to social interaction
Shaman – a nature-oriented spellcasting class that focuses on communing with the many spirits of the world
Sorcerer – a magic-wielding class that uses a focus to cast powerful spells and gain special abilities
Totem Warrior – a combat class that focuses on its connection with a totem animal and draws strength from its nature
Warrior – a typical combat class who receives some general training, but does not focus their abilities in the way the ghostblade does.

Conclusion
I think this will prove to be an interesting setting in which a DM can choose his own magic level, construct epic adventures or remain local in scope, and will provide a wide enough variety in divergence from standard DnD to make it a nice and unexpected retreat from the typical game.

So a couple questions I have are these:
What sort of implications do you think this animism will have on Elyria as a whole as well as on an individual level?
What sort of power could easily be used for such fantastic arcane inventions as seen in Eberron without offending the spirits? Eberron used bound elementals, but do you think that would upset nature spirits?

[RedSlayer]

Well, just a quick reply until I get more time to sit and think.

But #1:
I would think the average person would turn to worship the spirits of the world. Perhaps different regions would have a patron animal. Like the "Falconridge Barony" having the patron animal of a Falcon, represented through the spirit of a "Bird Maiden" Real or not.

#2:I could see some kind of constant creation/destruction as very nature like. Syphon off energy from the creation of an energy, then gain some if not more from its destruction.

[Dthclaw]

Re: Combat - Maybe you should consider, instead of having them be skill checks, something akin to the 'skill tricks' from Complete Scoundrel (spend 2 skill points to get a pseudo-feat like ability; max of 1/2HD). Would still represent spending time and effort to learn them, but a little more quasi-automatic than maxing out ranks in a skill.

Re: Classes - So... 'epic' play begins at 21st+... and you generally stay in your current class(es)... or you can branch out into other classes or PrCs... um... I don't see how that's different from normal epic rules aside from having the last five levels before maxing a class being above the epic threshold.

Re: Conclusion - Animism likely wouldn't have a whole helluva lot of impact in the gameplay sense. Just changes what is revered, and if there are no mechanics riding along I don't see it really being an issue. As for the power source - heck, you could just call it arcane power without specifying what type of power. If you want the bound stuff, well, it would really be a matter of interpretation - would the spirits be offended by something powered by natural things like elementals, spirits, etc; or more offended by something powered by unnatural (and therefore outside natural-spirits realm of concern) things like aberrations, undead, etc.

[Raven Bloodmoon]

Re:#1: I could definitely see patron deities in differnet places. Local spirits might also be worshipped, as well.

Re:#2: Perhaps using elementals or spirits to power things wouldn't be seen as truly evil, but I'd think the prospect of getting enslaved by mortals would be distasteful.

Re:Re: Combat - I have yet to get Complete Scoundrel, but from what you describe, it doesn't sound too bad, except the level of power of some of these will likely surpass feats easily. Some varient on it might be a possibility, maybe.

Re:Re: Classes - Well, you don't go to that epic bonus stuff or what not just because you are 21st level and there are no epic spells. I just mentioned it so that despite there being 25 levels in a class, people realize that the power of a level is roughly similar to normal dnd--roughly.

Re:Re: Conclusion - I wasn't so much concerned with mechanics as cultural and social impact. We live in a very monotheistic culture. A girl laughed at the idea that there are people who believe in a sun god just the other day. She doesn't seem to realize that there are at least 2 billion such people in the world, and they think it's hilarious that she doesn't realize the sun is a god. I was asking more about potential ways this animism will impact living in the world. And yes, spirits would probably be more ticked off if you used undead and aberrations - point taken. Purely magical power might be the best way to go, anyway.

[Dthclaw]

Quote

I was asking more about potential ways this animism will impact living in the world.

Well, unless there is any significant alternative to animism, I don't see it really being relevant then - majority things generally just are unless there is some different, similar thing to 'compete' against for consideration.

[Raven Bloodmoon]

There is much in our world and in traditional fantasy settings that we take for granted. How would dumping the traditional One God / Pantheon of Gods in favore of a Nature-Is-Sacred approach affect culture, society, and civilization on a whole? I don't think it would be exactly as our culture is today.

[darn6766]

it depends on how many different ways to worship. Would there be different domains for the shaman to choose? Could they even have domains? Are there seperate domains to worship ( water, fire, etc...)? And dont you think you need more classes?

[Axel]

Raven Bloodmoon, on Jan 16 2007, 09:01 PM, said:

There is much in our world and in traditional fantasy settings that we take for granted. How would dumping the traditional One God / Pantheon of Gods in favore of a Nature-Is-Sacred approach affect culture, society, and civilization on a whole? I don't think it would be exactly as our culture is today.

My advice would be to study the ways that shamanistic cultures in real life live. The first book I recommend is Michael Harner's Way of the Shaman. It's a short book, but does give a great deal of information on the similarities between shamanist cultures all over the world, even if half of it is "how-to" practical shamanism. Most Native American cultures were animistic, so that's a good place to start for examples. And I'd also say looking up ancient Chinese culture, as much of the traditional practices date back to the ancient Wu shamans who preceded the Taoists and Confucianists. The only difficulty there is that you may find too much of an ancestor worship mentality, rather than animist.

[Raven Bloodmoon]

Dude, thanks tons, Axel. I should have addressed that question to you, seeing as you did write the Religion Netbook. Good call on the ancient Chinese religion thing; I am actually basing a lot of the religion on Shinto, the predominant religion of Japan. It's got a lot of oddities that don't seem to be found in other religions that I've read about, and it doesn't stress the ancestor worship as greatly from what I've seen. I'll have to read up on the Wu shamans for sure.

The two things I find most interesting about Shinto is that it presents to ethical or moral code and say virtually nothing about what happens once you die. As a result, I find myself reading about Confucianism a lot in trying to derive an ethical code. I'm still not completely certain of how much I will draw from it, but again, it's a little different but with a lot of themes similar to Western ones. I suspect some combination fo the two will be adopted.

Once I have a known-world map of some sort drawn up, I'll upload it here and start to discuss political situations. I know last time we had threads going about plots and schemes, it turned out really quite interesting. Until then, thanks.

Darn6766, Check this link for more information on the classes I'm incorporating at the moment. And yes, as of now, I'm only using 6 classes, unless anyone can provide some suggestions. And incidentally, the shaman class is not necessarily a religious class. Just so you all know.

[darn6766]

You cant have a nature campagin without the conplete divine prestige class the Blighter. They are ex druids who hate nature and try to destroy it. Im just saying that they could be cultists, mainly an NPC class

[Raven Bloodmoon]

Okay, I was going to try to complete enough mechanics to provide a playable framework before unveiling this monstrosity, but I think it will help everyone see just what I'm working with and planning on. I'll also clarify a few things that I seem to have failed to articulate. But first...

Linkage!

Okay...now that you've surely clicked that ginormous link , I'll continue. Just because the people practice an animism that treats nature as sacred does not mean that they do not chop down trees, mine mountains, and generally disrupt things. They are humans. They are good at bending, and if need be, breaking their environment until it suits them. Shamans are not druids. They are not priests. The spirits are real; it is not a religion. Shamans literally talk to spirits who literally exist.

That being said, as of now, I am using only 6 full classes becaus eI have yet to think up any other classes worth making for a 25-level progression for. In fact, I've only made one class that is a 20-level PrC because it is almost a full class, but it has requirements. Aside from that class, I do not expect to make any PrCs of such length. In fact, I doubt I'll make any more than 10 levels long.

With regard to deities and priesthoods, there are a few divinities that I have yet to fluff out who will each have at least one PrC associated with it. These PrCs will serve as the priesthoods, paladinhoods, and other theocratic organizations in the world. And yes, I realize what a massive pain in my [CHAIR] this will be.

Hmm....So I ran out of thoughts to type, so I think I'll work on my world map next.