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OOC Sostagaria, The First Realm.

Ashlinn

Inactive Member
BEWARE! Wall of Text under the Spoiler!
This is a High Fantasy setting I've worked on and use'd a lot, It's Final Fantasy flavoured, so for those of you who love FF games, this oughta be a nice bite to savor. If There's enough interest, I could run a game of it here in the RP section, as a light hearted romp of random storytelling.

A Brief history of the First Realm, it’s peoples and kingdoms.

Within the Realms there exists many different versions of the Prime Material Plane. Each one a mirror of the first realm. The First realm ever encountered, and one quickly forgotten was that of Sostagaria. All but one God forgot it existed, secreting it away once the others had turned their attentions elsewhere.

Home to great temples to all the gods each group of peoples worshiped like those of any other plane, persecuted one another, fought and squabbled like any other. In the end however, Kingdoms rose, toppled, and others replaced them. The cycle never ends, and shows no sign of stopping.

Over time the worship of the gods became the central focal point. Each religion began to notice a waning of their powers. Eventually a new religion began to take form based around the Sun, Solist, and the Moon, Lunestra. The two faced God was slow and patient in it's planning.

Carefully planting the dual religion amongst the masses, revealing itself to those who had showed unwavering devotion regardless of the slow erosion of divine power over the ages.
The Age of Religion took time, the church grew, expanded, its influence reached far, it's cities grand. At the height of it's power it reached up to the heavens with it's power and just as planned by the Two faced god itself, snatched the fiving being from across the realms.

The Two faced God cast itself down onto the world in the form of crystals and the very stuff of creation. Shattering the world and seeding new life and races into the world as well as leaving the civilisations upon Gaia nearly extinct, life slowly recovered. Great crystal formations began to grow over to surface, large tracts of land began to uproot themselves and float across the skies. Tribes began to flourish and grow strong. And Warred. Decimated each other and returned as the seasons passed. Small kingdoms began growing out of the lands, raising and falling in turn.

The Age of Exploration ushered in a period of quiet calm as kingdoms set aside their fighting and began to rebuild their nations. Cities replaced villages, Towns replaces tribes. Centers of learning began to spring up and for once the races began to mix and start looking at the world around them.

Adventures across the seas began bringing back reports of strange beasts and creatures unknown to the rest of the realm. Those delving into the planet's depths began finding strange crystals, the beasts that both fed from them and the mysterious, ancient, clockwork automations that were powered by them.

As technology evolved and new sources of magic were being refined adventurers began charting their world. From the untamed wilds to the depths of the earth adventurers spread far and wide, and with them so did civilisation. The Skies above however remained out of reach, their mysterious floating islands a source of great curiosity and debate.

Of the Crystals many different types were slowly discovered, each type housed a different element or could absorb an element and house it's powers. Fire, Earth, Wind, Water, Holy, Shadow. Six Elements that made up the realm, each flowing and unchecked. Eventually the greatest tinkers, thinkers, magi and holy men of the realms came together and began experimenting on the crystals and the mysterious powers they contained.

From the dry and arid East, Home of the Dwarves and Sentients, El'Sid the Mad Tinkerer found a way to harness the power of Wind crystals to raise a ship from the oceans. A great galleon of metal and wood, The first AirShip, took to the skies. And from here the Sentients began to appear. Originally created to help manufacture the AirShips, the Crystals used to make them imbued them with a living will and they cheerfully volunteered to help, instead of simply be reduced to mindless automata, working in hand with their dwarven kinsmen.

El'Sids creations sparked a race as Nations began raising its own fleet of ships. Eventually, the great ships began to ply the sky, from Adventurers skiffs to Flying Fortress-Dreadnaughts.
The Age of Exploration began to wind down, and as all things are wont to do, The cycle began anew.

The Age of Strife dawned explosively from the Northern lands of the humans and orcs came the FireWalkers. Bipedal Machines of fire and metal, able to fire beams of any element and crewed by but a single man, and massive airships that could spit death from mounted cannons of crude manufacture. Fighting alongside these metal beasts were elite troops of soldiers both men and women in service to their lord, King Saroth the Conqueror. His sights were set upon the Western kingdoms rich deposits of crystals, largely untapped and left to grow because of the kingdom's stance on maintaining the balance. Despite the kingdoms pacifistic nature, it was not without its defences.

The Western Kingdom of Eidolos, Home of the Elves and Beastmen, The largest kingdom of mages in the realm it fought back with its own ability for it's mages to merge with the crystals and become a living creature of vast destruction and power, or the most benevolent of healers and protectors. Lead by their own Mage King Kalthane the Mage-Hand they began to reach out to their southern cousins for help to push back the Northern Lord.

From the Southern Crystal Isles, Home of the Dragons and the Dragon-Touched, The answer came in the form of the Crystal Isles archers and and Dragoons. The Dragon King himself, Bahamut, took to the field of battle alongside his Dragonborn Archers, women rumored to be able to bring down AirShips with but a single arrow and Dragoons able to leap to the sky and upon landing break the very earth, destroying what they landed upon, or healing those nearby with piercing blows from their lances.

Amidst the fighting stood both facets of the Two faced gods church, long secreted away amongst the citizens and veiled in secrecy since the fall of their kingdom neither church them took part in the fighting and began to settle the floating islands within the sky whilst everyone's eyes were cast on the surface of Gaia. Eventually all contact was lost with the devotees of Solist and Lunestra and the floating islands ascended higher than even the great AirShips could reach. The Islands remained visible, but once again beyond reach.

Races of The First Realm

Humans are by far the most populous of the Realms races. Running the gamut from wizened sages to humble peons scraping junk, Dragoons dropping from the sky to Dread Pirates plying the sky in mighty AirShips. To be a human in this age is to be average, though this is by no means a disadvantage as human’s can be found all across Gaia surface engaged in any vocation. Ranging from short and stocky to tall and limber. skin tones range from pale to near charcoal. Hairstyles of any and all color and temperaments to match.

Dwarves are intrinsically linked to the earth and have for generations been merchants and craftsmen of all things Masonry. Having built great cities amongst the arid eastern deserts of Gaia and having an innate ability to locate buried ore has saved many a dwarven company from disaster when looking to strike it rich. Dwarven society is highly Patriarchal it doesn’t restrict genders to any particular role. Men and women work alongside one another, and it’s not unheard of for whole families to take up a single vocation such as tinkering, blacksmithing, masonry and in a few cases Magecraft.

Elves of Gaia are mostly found in the Western woods of Gaia, home to the largest concentration of the crystals. The Elves themselves were once humans who had settled too close to the crystals and were eventually changed by it’s unchecked magics. Tall and broad creatures Elves aren’t the fragile creatures of other realms and are just as varied as humans are in their vocations. And just as different in their colorations and pigments. It’s not uncommon to find them outside of the forest, though somewhat rarer. Those that do pick up magic are some of the most powerful in the Realms, drawing their strength from the world around them as easily as from within themselves. Elven society is somewhat Matriarchal, with the only vocation barring men being that of their Arcane-Archers, women born with a small starburst birthmark amidst their forehead are only accepted.

Orcs of the northern lands are a society strong Noble Savages filled brawny men and women. Barbarians from a harsh land, they are however by no means uncivilised. Their nomadic lifestyle amongst the northern peaks takes them to the Lords Summits, the highest peaks of the world where ancient cities, untouched since the catastrophe that sundered the earth to the very borders of the Eastern and western kingdoms. Each tribe of orcs is no different though all are unified by the council of Elders that resides in the Lord Summits ancient cities. Powerful warriors and renowned shamanistic healers, Orc’s play a surprising role in the recovery of other nations as even their monastic monks are highly educated masters of ‘Gentle Combat’. Orc society is based on Honor, bravery and ritualised combat. Scars are a way of life and showcase an Orc’s courage, bravery and willingness to put the whole of their society above their own. While the Monastic monks, shamanistic healers and stout warriors of their society would normally seem to be at odds they are all integral for the survival of their society.

Sentients all began life as the creation of their dwarven masters. Looking to make the process of fabricating AirShips easier and faster the dwarves turned to the Tinkers union and their answer came in the form of the first Sentient. At each Sentients core is a crystal lattice. The merging of multiple crystals is required for them to function and grow, and as time went on the barely understood nature of the crystals themselves slowly changed the Sentients from mindless automations into thinking living beings. Standing half as tall as a Dwarf, or as tall as an Orc, Sentients are purpose built for the tasks at hand. While their creation is unsettling they quickly integrated themselves into Dwarven society to prove their usefulness and existence. Still manufactured by the Tinker unions, Sentients have become a staple of life across Gaia, they can be found in adventuring parties, to Airship crews to basic laborers in the mines. Each one possessed of a unique personality and cheerful demeanor.

Beastmen are unique to the world in that they are not a unified species. Instead they are the creatures that are most commonly found in the western woods alongside the Elves. Ranging from Catmen and women as tall or small as elves and humans, to large and savage Minotaurs that can fight an Orc to a standstill., Their creation is both spontaneous and not fully understood though avidly studied as they emerge from the deep mists surrounding the valley of Crystals in the woods very center. Intelligence and abilities range as widely as the Beastmen themselves. Individualism and self-reliance are their hallmarks though there are those that find the thrill of mixing in to the other races societies to be a grand adventure in itself.

Dragontouched are the offspring of Dragons and the worlds varied races, Unique to the crystal Isles of the south these men and women are a seafaring race that ride the ocean waves as easily as dragons soar the skies. Traders, Merchants and Pirates, both land and air based they are masters of their own fate and live for the thrill of seeing new sights, finding new Challenges and of course, the massing of great wealth. Individual Dragontouched vary in size, shape and height. Females of the race tend to take on the traits of their mothers with the males favoring their draconian parent’s traits more often than not. One thing they all do share is a love for drink, hard work and the shine of a new coin. They get along famously with Dwarves, find Orcs to be honorable, if a bit unrefined, Humans, like Beastmen they take on a case for case as the temperament of the shortest lived races tends to baffle them to no end. Elves are treated with respect and the sentient while unsettling are viewed with childlike curiosity.

Dragons are rare these days. Their domains are the Southern Crystal isles and their lairs are found wherever they’ve decided to stake their claims or have fought their brethren for the rights to keep their territory. Their numbers are kept low by their constant territorial fighting though this also ensures that only the strongest, or most cunning of the dragons are allowed to continue. Rare outside of the islands, most found outside the islands tend to be the runts of the isles or exiled for their crimes. Individual dragons vary in ability and their tempers, Much like the islands they warp and change to their liking. They were also the first race to awaken upon the world though none can remember anything prior to the great catastrophe that saw their advanced and powerful island nation brought to ruin. Ruled by the oldest and so far nigh immortal dragon king Bahamut whose throne sits upon the Central Crystal Isle they’ve begun focusing on rebuilding the remains of their own internal society and restoring the great works of the past with the help of their dragontouched offspring.

>.> If you survived the wall of text, congrats.
Detailed as it is - the setting is freeform, and very much open to expansion, I've had an editor help me out with it a bit and I've actually checked with Squenix and gotten a go ahead on this as it's generic enough that they can't tell me no. XD

If anyones interested, toss a reply in here and we can come up with some ideas.
 
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