Whisper Creek Dads' Facebook Page Dungeons and Dragons Game

Well, I have finished my preparations for my attempt to run a Dungeons and Dragons game using the HiBRiD rules. In the process, I wrote a quick Genre Description for the game for any interested in reading the backstory of the world. Many of you who played back in 1992 to 1998 will recognize much. To the new initiates, I hope it will provide some insight and background as your characters meet their demise, er, go about their adventure...

Setting

History

The First Age

At first, there were two entities: Hujraad and Angstbrecht. Angstbrecht formed as a manifestation of the conscious desire for collecting for one’s self. Hujraad formed as a manifestation of the conscious desire for serving others. Through their inadvertent interactions with the universe around them, they formed Namenlos Welt and all its living creatures and gained consciousness. As the creatures evolved and also gained consciousness, they came to refer to these entities as gods.

The gods came to watch their creations and realized that each sentient creature had both the capacity for selfishness and selflessness and each sought to bring their own natures out in the creatures that worshipped them. Each provided his worshippers with conduits to the power of the universe-the power known as Ite’. Hujraad brought into existence dragons to act as natural indirect conduits radiating Ite’ between his followers and the world around them while Angstbrecht bestowed the powers of  directly upon his worshippers through infernal pacts for which the petitioners would give their souls to him. The worshippers of each god failed to see the point of view of worshippers of the other god, and though many small fights, skirmishes, and struggles within and among the various creatures and peoples of Namenlos World went on for millennia, they were never in any real danger of elimination for all was balanced. This First Age lasted until the day the two stars fell to the north and the south.

The Second Age

To the north, the first of these “stars” was in actuality the city-ship of a magical star-faring folk known as the Tayfolk from a galaxy and plane far away. With its crash landing, the resulting explosion smashed into the single continent of the world into three, driving each apart away from one another, and polluting the world with a new source of magic that settled across the planet like nuclear fallout. As the magical and physical dust settled, this Tayling magic manifested in several ways. Most dramatically, a metal referred to as “mithral silver” appeared seemingly from out of thin air. Lighter and stronger than steel, it was quickly horded by metalworkers who prized it for its properties. It also enabled works made with it to have magical properties. The Tayfolk fallout also integrated into the bodies of various creatures across the planet, creating magical versions of normal creatures as well as strange combinations of living creatures with all sorts of magical abilities. Finally, the fallout gave certain humanoids the ability to use of scientific methods and faith instead of the methods created by Hujraad or Angsbrecht to draw out their power.

To the south, the second of these “stars” was a ship of over 50,000 troops in stasis known as “Knights of Purity”, who had followed the Tayfolk ship across the realities with a single purpose: to eliminate the Tayfolk, whom they considered abominations. After their crash, they immediately began to search and sweep northward across continent of Treh’dann to find their targets. As they came across elves and ogres, they slaughtered such creatures whenever they were encountered, as their DNA matched that of the Tayfolk so precisely. The Tayfolk, knowing the Knights were searching for them, hid themselves in their city-ship underneath a mountain and began to work feverishly in secret to research ways to change themselves in such a way as to prevent their detection by magical means and elimination by the Knights of Purity Control.

But unlike science, in which any system falls into chaos if left alone, the magical energy brought by the Tayfolk existed as a thermodynamic opposite, drawing itself together and consolidating itself when left alone. Over the millennia, this unique property eventually led to all the magical creatures and mithral silver items infused with the “magical fallout” found themselves inexplicably drawn together into a great battle, historically known as the Battle of Ty, that resulted in the complete glassing, irradiation, shattering, and sinking of one of the three continents through nuclear destruction, as well as the complete conversion of the planet from a sphere to a donut shape. In terms of civilization, the changes brought about the complete elimination of all formal magical education, and the elimination of all mages save for two, all elven civilization, and all the ogres on the planet. The Tayfolk magical energies once again were dispersed by the great explosions, they once again slowly beginning their path towards reconsolidation. This battle is when the Second Age is said to have ended.

The Third Age

After the Battle of Ty, the forces of the Knights of Purity were driven from the battlefield, and left to their original purpose of searching out the Tayfolk, who had avoided involvement in the battle as they continued to research their salvation. The magical Tayfolk fallout, however, now was discovered sitting in the bloody battlefield consolidated into two much more concentrated, magically-dense forms scattered across the battlefield. The first form, a great three-volume tome known as the Book of Ages, was discovered on the battlefield by the two surviving mages and a disciple of a priest of Hujraad. The second form was dispersed in slivers of mithral silver. The remaining forces of Hujraad came together and on the battlefield forged in the Treaty of Ty a plan for preventing the consolidation of the Tayfolk magical energies and such magic destruction again. The two remaining mages, Farrn and the Green Mage of Oss would research the energies to determine how to permanently remove them as a menace of their world. Each took one of the two volumes of the Book of Ages to their towers in this effort. A preist of Hujraad known as Kotras, was charged with taking the third volume and hiding it where it could be referenced but far away from other prying eyes that might covet its power. The dwarves and remaining elves and their natural abilities with mithral silver were tasked with gathering up by the mithral and squirreling it away deep within their homes deep within the mountains to work on integrating it into the land itself so that it would never be accessible by those who would use it for their own ends, at least until a way to remove the Tayfolk magical energies could be eliminated forever.

Millenia passed, but again, the nature of the Tayfolk magical energies brought themselves together, and again a great battle was fought. This battle, known as the Battle of the Northern Cross, was fought between two forces. The first force was that of Farrn, the mage wielding magic from the volume now known as the Book of Ages Past, fielding an army of undead and the force of anti-life in the name of Angstbrecht. Everywhere his army tread was turned black and dead. There was no warmth as every bit of energy was sucked from the world in the places where they occupied. The other force, led by The Green Mage of Oss wielding magic from the volume now known as the Book of Ages to Come, fielded all living creatures both normal and magical, as well as the few remaining elves and stragglers who had independently studied magic to fight in the name of Hujraad. Interestingly, the third volume now known as the Book of Now, was absent from this battle, however, Kotras its protector, is said to have appeared just before the battle began to consult with the Green Mage. Kotras is also noted to have led a force of dwarves led by a group of orcs known as The Ascended into that battle as an elite force that turned the tide of the battle and prevent the fall of Hujraad’s forces that terrible day. This time, the Knights of Purity stayed away from the battle and continued their search for the Tayfolk.

The Battle of the Northern Cross, however, was significant for another reason. Previously, the pacifistic people known as the Brih’ja’dunians who lived in the southernmost tip of the continent not far from where the Knights of Purity had landed, seemed unaffected by the events of leading up to and after the Battle of Ty. Throughout the First and Second Ages they kept to themselves. During this time, like Farrn and The Green Mage of Oss, they too noticed the way the magic of the Tayfolk worked and figured out the reason for the horrible devastation of their world and why it seemed to happen again and again. Somehow, they managed to implement a different plan, stepping step outside the patterns of normal men and magic and over centuries and infiltrating all major cities across the continent and eventually into the society of the Tayfolk themselves. As the threat that Farrn closed in on their city-state, they realized they must activate their plan they had been quietly planning for millennia and had to take an active role on the world stage. Though they elected to stay out of the battle, they did commit to the role of supporting the forces of the Green Mage of Oss logistically to an incredible extent in the face of the lifeless territory occupied and controlled by Farrn’s advancing army. More activelt, on the day of the battle of the Northern Cross, they made themselves known to the Two Princes of the Tayfolk. This was coincidentally (or maybe not so coincidentally) timed as the Tayfolk had just managed to discover the secret to changing themselves forever into beings more powerful than any the world had seen. As the battle began in the mountains between the Forces of Farrn and the Green Mage of Oss, so a battle also raged within the mountain home of the Tayfolk. The mountains were laid open through the help of the Brih’Ja’Dunian sleeper agents within the Tayfolk mountain and the Knights of Purity stormed in. After a heated battle, the two brother rulers of the Tayfolk, Ashran and Desorak, realized they were about to lose everything and in a final act of honor, they launched their city-ship from underneath the mountain, tearing it asunder, and flying their home from the surface of the planet into the Red Sun, vaporizing  it, along with the Brih’Ja’dunian agents, almost all of the Knights of Purity, as well as themselves and all their people, content to die an honorable death rather than be dominated by these lowly humans who had foiled over 10,000 years of research. This marked the the end of the Third Age and the beginning of the Dark Age.

The Dark Age

Once again, the planet was changed. The city-ship of the Tayfolk had been a lynch pin holding the entire continent of Treh’dann together. As it ascended into space, great tectonic shifts occurred. The fissures that had formed when the city-ship had first landed fully cracked, breaking the continent into multiple islands. The islands each were surrounded by cliffs over 100 meters high, though there were several places on most of them close to sea level where port cities were able to be once again established.

The remaining sentient races, seeing what Tayfolk magic had brought, banned it in an agreement known as the Accords of Kotras that was signed by the leaders of every major city state on each of the now 13 continents. Any sentient creature imbued with the ability to cast academic magic was hunted down and immediately sent to the nearest city-state sanctioned conditioning camp, one on each continent. In these camps, the mage was driven through torture to either hate all wielders of academic magic (including themselves) or they simply died resisting the torture. Those few that survived the camps were sent to be part of a group that was formed to enforce the Accords recognized as the “Order of the Accords”. Informally and to common folk they were more commonly known as “The Mage Hunters”, and were tasked with the lifelong charter of hunting any escaped and renegade mages down to be brought to a conditioning camp and conditioned. To aid the Mage Hunters, the dwarves forged special shurikens hyper-dense with Tayfolk magic that would automatically seek any out who also possessed such magic when thrown in their general vicinity. Once a target’s flesh had been penetrated by the shuriken, the target’s spirit and magic bound with the magic within the shuriken instantly, and the target “bled” Tayfolk magical energy into the shuriken until it was depleted from the target. This “bloodletting” is extremely painful to the target and can last hours or even days and is referred to by Mage Hunters as “field conditioning” of the target. Once the magical energy was gone, the soul settled back into the creature’s body. If the shuriken was removed while spirit and magic were intertwined, the creature would die instantly. The more such shurikens were used, the denser with Tayfolk magic they became. Possession or even handling of one of these mithral silver shuriken is considered an act punishable by death by Mage Hunters and the shuriken have now become such a strong symbol of the Order that they are referred to as “Mage Killers” in the same manner as are the members of the Order.

Geography

The great tectonic movements from the end of the Third Age some 60 years ago have settled, resulting in the once great continent being shattered into thirteen continents each with but 100 kilometers of ocean between one another. Each continent contains a single great city-state that controls each continent and each of which is thriving like the post-WW2 United States. Expanding out from each city-state are several cities and out from them are several towns.  Between each of these more urban areas are vast areas of well-developed and productive fertile farmlands where the lakes of blood and scorched earth once were.

The lattitudes of Namnlos Welt are much different from those of our own world, in that the northern most latitude of the planet is equivalent to that of our own world 65 degrees, as seen in northern Canada, Russia, Scandinavia and Alaska. As latitudes progress southward, at the equator of Namenlos Welt, they progress in temperature more slowly such that the equator is similar to at our own 30 degrees north latitude and at the south most pole, the temperatures are akin to the equator in our own world. Climate changes resulting from elevation and moisture patterns are otherwise similar to our own world.

Wildlife

Standard wildlife similar to that of our own world coexists with a vast variety of all types of magical creatures too numerous and varied to represent here. Anything from plants to animals from earth’s past myths and legends to oozes to jellies can express surprising traits and abilities.

Technology

For the most part, technology is the equivalent of late middle ages in our own world.

One unique development in technology is that it has started to advance in just the past few years due to the presence of the sixty-four Knights of Purity who survived the Third Age and to this day suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder as they are haunted by the sight of seeing the rest of their number perish inside the Tayfolk city-ship as it vaporized in the sun. These few surviving Knights, much older and with no Tayfolk to fight, have taken to introducing some of their technologies to the peoples of Namenlos Welt, including rudimentary metallurgy and the metric system. As none of them are scientists, however, little true progress has yet been made. The relearning of everything that was once considered “alchemy” in a systematic fashion and renaming the science “chemistry” has created a strong foundation on which to systematically build and this is just now starting to show some signs of promise, especially among the more innovative, forward thinkers in the universities within the city-states and among the dwarves and gnomes.

Supernatural Phenomena

Magic exists in this campaign and it has shaped the world in ages past. In general magic comes from one of three sources: Tayfolk, Hujraad, or Angstbrecht.

Tayfolk derived magic is considered profane and the cause of all woes of humanity and demihumanity by learned folks. Common folks generally perceive all magic as suspicious and associated with either Hujraad or Angstbrecht; few know that Tayfolk magic ever existed at all or if it even still exists. As the agents of Hujraad tend to help humanity wherever they go, they are generally looked upon more highly, however, still suspiciously. Even if Hujraad’s followers practice magic in public many know that when magic is about, it is there for a reason and it rarely a good one.

Tayfolk

Tayfolk-based magic is derived from study and practice and originates in the contamination of the surface of the planet from a long-dead race of aliens. With the loss of the Tayfolk, the energies associated with their magic is decreasing in power and frequency as the energies continue to once again consolidate. The Book of Ages that manifested from Tayfolk magic was lost to the wizarding community and the few rogue academic mages that manage to evade the Mage Hunters seek it to learn its secrets and use it as a source of power. All the mithral silver that manifested from Tayfolk magic during the first three Ages has been all collected, but as the few remaining Tayfolk magical energies begun to consolidate, they are once again manifesting as mithral silver. This substance is actively sought out by those hunted mages who depend on them to cast their spells, and those who wish to use it in the creation of magical items such as weapons, armor, or other inanimate objects.

Hujraad

Hujraad-based magic is derived from the preternatural conscious entity, Hujraad. Hujraad generally bestows magics gently and indirectly to all in the world through radiation out from dragons that live on the planet. In the First Age, there were many dragons that connected the followers of Hujraad with their god’s power. But after the Battle of Ty and the Battle of the Northern Cross, they have been drastically reduced in numbers. The elders remember stories of them but their presence today is unseen and unfelt by all but the truly faithful who insist they still live or they would not have their abilities but do not know how many of them or where they might be. There are even talks of those who merged their human blood with that of dragons to keep their lines alive. Despite any such efforts to maintain the bloodlines, with the decrease in the number of dragons in the world, the magical potential provided by Hujraad has also begun to decline in power.

Angstbrecht

Angstbrecht-based magic is bestowed by the infernal entity Angstbrecht upon directly its practitioners who must petition it from him with some sort of pact or corrupting ritual. Up until the Third Age, the followers of Angstbrecht were many. After the fall of Farrn in the Third Age, however, his worshippers have been driven away to places unknown. The followers of Hujraad, however, still maintain that they are out there and struggle to work against his “evil” ways. As with dragons, there are whispers of those who still worship at the altar of Angstbrecht, make pacts with the infernal being, or have even corrupted themselves by mating with him to gain his graces and gifts. Unlike the power of the Tayfolk and Hujraad, however, Angstbrecht’s power remains strong and his influence has begun grow as it has filled the power void once held by these competing sources of power. It is only the will of good people that prevents darkness from consuming the world of Namenlos Welt once again.

Races

Elves

Elves, once prevalent throughout Namenlos Welt’s First Age, have been all but eliminated and those that remain are now sterile and doomed to live their lives unable to produce any more offspring. The few elves remaining are now hunted down by the few remaining Knights of Purity as sport when they are feeling particularly restless, and this is tolerated by most folks as many of them are grateful for the assistance they have received from the Knights in reestablishing the cities and the elves are generally associated with the evils of magic. Any time there is a wandering monster check, there is a chance one of these sorts of encounters will occur, depending on the proximity to a city-state (30%), town (20%), farm (10%), or in the remote wilderness (5%).

Mountain Folk

Of the standard Dungeons and Dragons “races”, only dwarves, gnomes, and half-orcs play roles remain as dominant races of the world. All humans refer to them as “Mountain Folk” as that is generally where they dwell. The Mountain Folk  play as significant a role in the Accords of Kotras as humans because of Kotras himself being a half-orc who reunited all these other races under the mountain. They currently work to obtain mithral and will support Mage Hunters and their cause, however two generations out, some humans are beginning to wonder what the dwarves are doing with all the mithral they have amassed.

Dwarves

Dwarves rule the mountains and trade with humans living within their cities and citadels as equals. The dwarves covet mithral silver above all other metals and will trade or do anything to obtain it as per their charter in the Accords of Kotras, but have been known to use it for defenses, weapons, and other more useful things. Generally, dwarves tend to enjoy staying in the mountains and if they vacation, do so in the foothills close to home. There are two clans: One wears kilts and speaks with an accent like those from Scotland in our own world while the other tends to exhibit a culture like that of medieval Germany and speaks with an accent similar to Germany in our own world.

Gnomes

Gnomes live within dwarven-built cities and share a strong sense of cultural community. They have become fascinated with tinkering with the mithral and always seem to be looking for magical creatures, people, or items to do experiments with just for the joy of doing so. They tend to be travelers looking for something to catch their fancies, new things to tinker with, new peoples to learn about and news gatherers for the rest of the mountain folk. Gnomes tend to speak rather quickly and act very decisively.

Half Orcs

Half-orcs are honorable warriors that live in the foothills and have given themselves fully to hunting down mages on their own outside of the Accords of Kotras. They look upon the safety of all humans, dwarves and gnomes as their responsibility, as they have no people of their own and take this honor as the meaning of their lives. The Order of the Accords was initially their idea and though they do not use mithral silver shurikens and are not officially members of the Order of the Accords, they are looked upon as samurai or knights by humand and demihumans alike wherever they go and are revered by even the self-loathing Mage Hunters.

Humans

A number of cultural groups have appeared among the humans of Namenlos Welt.

Brih’Ja’Dunians

The Brih’Ja’Dunians still live in their own City-state and are rarely encountered outside the walls of the city-state. They are known to have a pacifistic and advanced society though no one seems to have any precise examples of such great advancements.  It is also known they are not a magical people as has been borne out by countless Mage-Hunter accounts. Most often, they will be encountered as an occasional scholar out of their homelands, traveling with anyone of any sort of race for some sort of academic pursuit. They have dark skin, with women shaving their heads and men wearing beaded braids pulled back to designate their family and personal identities and accomplishments. Their society is completely egalitarian and progressive.

Tallahassii

These rope warriors of the norther archipelago of Racsagadan are a fierce matriarchal society of warriors and traders. They are known for their acrobatic rope-based fighting styles, inhuman speed, and contempt for almost all men, especially any who look down on women.