Blog is on hold

I've got an active campaign on the go. I'll write more here next time I'm on break.

Teredahar History & Mythology: The Conquest

(Rob: I'd like to point out that 2015 had two Friday the 13ths in a row. Neat.)

The Conquest was a series of wars fought between the Legion Drakoni and the Empire of Tan'Rar. In only 20 years the Drakoni armies were able to surge outwards from their island homeland and, through a combination of superior weaponry and tactics, bring the Empire to its knees. I'm going to focus on how they were able to do this and a few key events that made it possible.

After the Age of Settlers

The Age of Settlers was a great and prosperous time for Tan'Rar. The Spellweavers had successfully conjured the entire continent of Teredahar for the Empire to claim. Cities were being founded, resources discovered, and trade routes established to bring those resources back to fuel Tan'Rar's industries. This rapid expansion had a major drawback, however: defense.

Tan'Rar established a second capitol in the region called Tannock in Teredahar's north. Between the two capitols the Empire was able to effectively govern but not control Teredahar's massive territory. The Drakoni saw this weakness and used it to great advantage. When their airships first arrived in the skies of what would become Kurudar in TR 6183 they were met with only token resistance as the Elvish forces were too spread out to challenge them.

Invasion

Since their last war both the Elves and Drakoni knew the advantage of airships in battle, but whereas the Elves development focused on mounting ever-more-numerous guns and carrying increasingly large cargoes to and from the new continent, the Drakoni built lightly-armed carrier ships and invented boarding tactics taking advantage of their natural ability to fly (called "dragon drop" by the elves). Their fast, agile airships allowed them to easily capture defending Elvish ships, deploy rapidly, and keep their supply lines moving.

As the Drakoni gained territory they would enslave the local peasantry to produce food and materiel for their armies under threat of starvation. The Drakoni also used slave labour to construct several keeps, airship facilities, and engineering projects throughout their occupation of Tan'Rar. By winter of TR 6188 the Drakioni controlled all of southern and western Teredahar and were closing around Syldar and Tannock, both regions now cut off from supplies coming from Loraida.

The Legion Drakoni quickly conquered the remaining large settlements in Syldar in the spring of TR 6189, the northern capitol region of Tannock was much better defended. The Tannock Shield Mountains are high enough to be nigh-impenetrable by airship and the climate of Tannock is much colder than the cold-blooded Drakoni were used to dealing with. Instead of sweeping through Tannock as they had the rest of Teredahar, they were forced to lay siege to Elvish strongholds guarding the passes through the mountains.

Counterattack

During the invasion of Teredahar the Empire kept a sizable portion of its navy and airship fleet around Loraida to defend the homeland. Several small incursions were successfully repelled but the Legion seemed to be fully occupied with conquering Teredahar and showed little sign of desiring to invade Loraida as well.

In Spring 6189 with seemingly the full force of the Legion occupied holding territory in Teredahar, the generals commanding Loraida's forces planned a decapitation strike: They would bring as large a force as they could as quickly as they could to the Drakoni home islands, capture their cities, kill their leaders, and force them to withdraw from Teredahar.

A force of fifty ships and a dozen airships were mustered from Loraida's defenders. Under the command of General Näsir they voyaged into the uncharted waters where the Drakoni home islands were known to rest. No Elvish ship had ever traveled into this region and returned; a record that would remain unbroken for centuries more.

Notes released later by the Drakoni ruling council recount that due to Drakoni universal conscription and the widespread arming of populations throughout their home territory, the Elves were never able to hold a safe port for very long before being driven out by well-trained and -armed local militias. The Elvish fleet survived for five months harrying Drakoni coastal cities with hit-and-run tactics until the need for supplies and continuous damage to their ships forced them to attempt a retreat. By that time it was early fall and an ocean storm is believed to have destroyed what remained of the fleet.

Catastrophe

The failed counterattack drew the focus of the Legion down upon Loraida, where it fell like a hammer. Few records exist of what happened next, but it is known that in mid-autumn an immense force of Drakoni and even Dragons themselves descended upon Loraida bent on wiping Tan'Rar out as they had failed to do ages before. Survivors tell of fire falling from great black storm-clouds and sundering the great stone towers at Rakos Bridge, black-armored Drakoni death-squads dropping from airships and massacring entire villages, and great red Dragons burning acres of countryside to ash. When it was all over, Loraida was completely depopulated and the continent that once cradled  the weary Elvish race now holds nothing but ruins.

The capture of Tannock in 6191 and the utter destruction of cities on Loraida ended the Empire of Tan'Rar. The Elves would suffer under Drakoni rule for nearly 200 years before seeing freedom.

Gameplay Notes

• Teredahar is dotted with numerous small built by Elves or Drakoni during the fight for Teredahar. 
• Ancient battlefields and relics of the war are numerous.  
• The entire continent of Loraida (South of Teredahar) is full of bones and ruins. The Ashram Academy has a permanent expedition there constantly bringing back interesting trinkets.

Next Week

Next week we'll have some lighter fare and talk about an unambiguously-good (something rare if you're paying attention) faction: The Wayfarer Guides.

Cities In-Depth: Sylridian, Syldar

Sylridian is the wealthiest and most influential city in Teredahar. It is a bustling metropolis of over 85,000 people; the second most populous city after Kivan Torrat, Kurudar. It is the capitol of Syldar, the home of the Ashram Academy, and the main staging area for armies heading to fight on the shards.

Location

Sylridian sits on the North bank of the Stone River where it meets the Sea of Rime. The area is overwhelmingly flat and mostly consists of dried marshes and flood plains. A scant 60 miles North of the city the flat terrain is abruptly broken by the Tannock Shield Mountains and the Tannock Glacier beyond.

Being so close to the sea, the climate of Sylridian is much more hospitable than surrounding areas. Much of northern Syldar is cold and dry grasslands and desert verging on tundra. The area around Sylridian, however, is cold and temperate (rather like central parts of Canada). Winter in the city is long and snowy, and summers are cool and short. Spring flooding affects much of the surrounding countryside but is kept in check within the city by an extensive network of underground cisterns and waterways.

Layout

Sylridian has been sacked, flooded, expanded, invaded, and rebuilt several times and by several different cultures throughout its long history. This evolution has given the city a very disjointed layout, but some district lines are clearly identifiable:

• Commerce and trade are focused in the city's southeast, near the main gate and the harbour and around the Old Castle. 
• The Ashram Academy's Sylridian campus (sometimes called the "Civilian Campus") occupies several blocks in the northeast, and many of the blocks around that house its staff and students. 
• Sylridian's capitol building, The Hall of Voices, stands in the centre of the city's eastern half. It's surrounded by various guild offices, embassies, and international banks. 
• Several large places of worship are clustered together on a small rise called Temple Hill in the central north district. 
• The city's former western wall divides the city into "old" and "new" halves. Many of the city's poorer inhabitants live in the new half. 
• On the city's extreme western edge stands a modest army base.
• Finally, outside of the city's northwestern gate is a large field used for parking airships and occasionally as a carnival ground. 

Sylridian, Syldar

Architecture

Due to the city's long history, several architectural styles tend to overlap within the city. Three main styles are common: Late imperial elvish tower-houses, modern half-timber, and monolithic burtalism.

Elvish Tower-Houses

These are easily spotted on the map where they look like collections of linked circles. Elvish tower-houses are groups of tall, thin spires linked by bridges. Often these towers are 4 or 5 stories tall and built from stone blocks and timber. Each floor of each tower is often a single room. Rooms are connected by curves stairs or bridges between towers. Usually the lowest floors are used for storage and living quarters are on the upper floors. Supposedly these abodes were designed in Tan'Rar to be built in spaces between trees so that the inhabitants could live in a modern structure while still enjoying nature. Commonly houses of this style will have 2 or 3 towers, while the largest mansions may have 7 towers or more. Living in a tower-house is a sign of status only upper-class Elves can afford.

Half-Timber

Much of the common building stock in Sylridian is of this style: a stone lower floor supporting a timber-framed upper floor with masonry filling in-between. Older buildings in this style have cobblestone for their lower floors while newer ones use fitted blocks of stone brought from other regions.

Monolithic Britalism

Many of the Ashram Academy's buildings and the government's offices (including the Hall of Voices itself) are built in this style. These buildings are often enormous edifices built of fine imported stone. Their shape is chosen to reflect their function. A fine example is the five-towered library building on the Academy campus. Each of the five towers houses a library focused on a different discipline. The building's odd shape has led students to name it "the pipe organ".

Politics

Sylridian is home to the government of Syldar but the city itself is governed by a ruling council with 20 elected members. Law and order is maintained by the City Guard, a civilian policing force. Sylridian's City Guard has more mages in its ranks than any other city's defense force.

Stat Block (Pathfinder)

Sylridian, Syldar

NG Metropolis
Corruption +3; Crime +4; Economy +7, Law +3, Lore +5, Society +8
Qualities magical, academic, well-educated, financial centre, guilds, magically attuned
Danger +10

Demographics

Government Council
Population 86,000 (52% Syldarri(Elves), 25% Humans, 8% Drakoni, 6% Plains Dwarves, 4% Kurudari(Halflings), 5% Other Races)

Notable NPCs

The Lords Magisters, rulers of Syldar
Alar Therassan, King of Syldar (male, elf (highborn), NG, Wizard 10 / Aristocrat 5, age 311)
Valasir Amastatica, Regend-in-Exile of Tan’Rar (male, elf (highborn), CG, Aristocrat 6, age 116)
Hasan Al-Fadir, Prime Minister of Guilds (male, elf (syldarri), NG, Expert 8 / Aristocrat 5, age 202)
Ashelia Valar, Headmistress of the Ashram Academy (female, elf (highborn), LN, Warmage 12 / Aristocrat 4, age 271)
Soveliss Oaken, Supreme Commander of Syldar’s Army (male, half-elf, LG, Fighter 13, age 70)
Other Notable NPCs
Owner of The Copper Roof Tavern Lia Stonepenny (female, half-elf, NG, Expert 6, age 79)
Guard Commander Akshay Al-Kord (male, elf (syldarri), LG, Fighter 9, age 57)

Marketplace

Base Value 19,200 gp; Purchase Limit 120,000 gp; Spellcasting divine 9th
Minor/Medium/Major items: any / 4d4 / 3d4

Next Time

Next week's article will be a History & Mythology article covering the Drakoni invasion of Tan’Rar’s holdings in Teredahar, a time known as The Conquest.

Factions of Teredahar: The Wind People

The Wind People are a tribe of Human nomads who live at high elevations along The Torran Spine Mountains in central and eastern Teredahar. They're reclusive and don't seek out other groups except for a little bit of trade they do along Kurudar's northern border. They have left numerous walls, stairs, and simple bridges throughout the mountains but don't control any fixed territory except for a string of tiny mountain holdfasts they only use during winter. Like most nomadic peoples, they herd animals rather than farming. Many get around simply by walking but some families have salvaged or been gifted retired airships which they have learned to maintain and operate as a much faster means of getting around in the lower mountain passes.

Description

For this group's subrace stats, see Races of Teredahar - Humans. 

Wind People and their descendents are often shorter than average; most are less than five and a half feet tall. They have copper-coloured skin and black hair. Their eyes are often very dark brown, almost black in colour. A hard life of travel gives most wind people a lean, athletic build rather than muscular.

Wind people often shave their heads and have elaborate tattoos on their scalp, face, and elsewhere. These tattoos often incorporate geometric designs or abstract animal forms and include writing in the Wind People's own secret language. Psionic Wind People often weave power tattoos (Pathfinder SRD) into these designs to hide them from casual observers. Such tattoos require a special ink which they are skilled at making.

To better operate in the often-extremely-windy environments they live in, Wind People often wear tight, form-fitting clothes with little or no adornments that would flap or come loose in the wind. Often these clothes are made from animal hides and lined with fur for warmth.

Interaction

Travelers in Teredahar may encounter lone descendents of the Wind People among the crew of large airships, sailing vessels, or desert caravans. Wanderlust runs very strong and they are unlikely to settle down in cities or towns.

One particularly large family of Wind People operate a traveling trading post in an old Drakoni assault carrier called the "Enduring Dominion" (Drakoni: Eskavok Taldeéthun). The Dominion visits each of the major cities of Teredahar twice per year bringing loads of exotic goods for trade. For many common folk this is the only time they can see Wind People and the ships' arrival is often integrated into a local carnival or festivity.

The Wind People are the only community of psionic Humans on Teredahar. This unique way of manipulating magic is a closely-guarded secret. They do not overtly use this power or demonstrate it for anyone. They have been known to adopt and train psionically-gifted individuals (even of other races) into their culture if such an individual is exiled from his or her own culture. Joining the Wind People means fully accepting their culture, traditions, and lifestyle for life.

Next Week

Next week will be a Cities article going into some of the details of the largest, most influential, and second-most-populous city in Teredahar: Sylridian, Syldar.

Birth of a World on indefinite hiatus

I'm putting the weekly streaming show on indefinite hiatus. I've been doing it for half a year (give or take) and it hasn't really found an audience. I will likely make another foray into online D&D videos sometime in the future. At the very least I do want to stream more 5th Edition gameplay.

Elvish Engineering: Airships

Airships were invented by the Elves of Tan'Rar in the year 1590. They provided a decisive advantage during the Second Dragon War, allowing the Elves to drive the Dragons from Loraida and claim the entire continent for themselves. Airships built by the Elves and Drakoni have featured prominently in every major conflict since.

Levistone

Levistone is a marble-like mineral that is blue in colour with veins of black running through it. It has the unusual property that it is lighter than air. If let free it floats at an altitude of 7,000 feet. Levistone is not native to the Prime plane. It was formed on a Shard that was exposed to large amounts of Elemental Air energy and later crashed into Prime during the round of shard collisions from the year 10 to 317. On Prime it's often found mixed with native stone and can be quarried in open pits without risking it floating away. Levistone was first purified by the Elves around 1530. Airships were developed over the next 60 years.

Levistone is extremely rare. It is only found in a handful of places in the world. For this reason only the armies of powerful nations are able to build and maintain airships. Some civilians come into possession of decommissioned or damaged airships and re-purpose them as transports or freighters.

Airships

All airships (regardless of what civilization created them) have the same basic form: a outer hull carved of levistone blocks with a knife-like profile, a set of wood-and-canvas fins for steering, and a lightweight wooden or metal-reinforced interior structure. Propulsion is provided by one or more Air Elementals bound in large powerstones within the hull. These are often just called "engine cores" to overlook the moral implications of keeping bound somewhat-intelligent creatures as a means of propulsion.

A light transport. Art by Pieter Talens.

Keeping an airship aloft requires carefully balancing the lifting force of the levistone hull with the weight of the superstructure, engine core, cargo, passengers, armaments, etc. Only pure levistone floats 7,000 feet up. Most airships fly in the 5,000 foot range. Landing an airship requires adjusting the ballast to make it fly lower and then roping it to the ground. Some mountainside settlements just have pier-like docks.

Weapons & Defenses

Airships intended for battle often have steel-reinforced superstructures, plated hulls, and/or knife-like rams on their bows. Most airships have at least one powerstone-launching gun mounted in a two-axis turret for offense. The largest warships mount dozens of guns, and carry hundreds of air-dropped powerstone bombs. Drakoni also have a class of carrier ships that they use as airborne platforms to fly off of.

The "Searing Fury" - A triple-hulled Heavy Assault Cruiser.
Art by Mac Hillier.

Safety

Airships are rather durable. The greatest danger to an airship is accidental detonation of the ammunition magazine or breach of the engine core. Both ammo and engine core are powerstones. Powerstones are quite fragile and a large enough shock will cause them to chip or crack, releasing the spell energy stored within. This is often catastrophic for the airship and anyone aboard.

More modern airships have "wreck nets", netting built through the superstructure connecting directly to the hull. In the event of the ship breaking up, the levistone hull will continue to naturally float, pulling apart and unfolding the wreck net. Theoretically this would allow surviving crew to float safely away from the wreck. In practice an airship wreck in battle has less than a 10% survival rate regardless of whether wreck nets deploy properly or not.

Next Time

Next week will be a factions article on The Wind People, a group of Human nomads who live on airships.

Cities In-Depth: Kor's Geode, Ashdar

Map

Given the unique nature of the place, I've decided to map Kor's Geode in profile.

Location

Kor's Geode is a minor city located in Ashdar's Broken Teeth mountain range. It is built almost entirely within an enormous geode lined with building-sized amethyst crystals inside of a dead volcano. There is no other place like it in the world.

The city was founded to harvest the geode's amethysts, and this remains a major part of its industry. These crystals are cut from the geode's walls and broken up by master gemsmiths for export. The largest chunks are prized for their ability to bind elementals in the cores of airships. Smaller pieces are turned into powerstones or simply used as jewels.

Several years after the city's founding, entreprising elvish shipwrights established the Skyperch Shipyard in the dead volcano's caldera. This arrangement has allowed the dwarves of the Geode to export the largest crystals without having to transport them by road.

Architecture

The city on the geode's floor is built of local reddish-brown volcanic stone in a squat, angular style similar to that of the Plains Dwarves of Koldar. Most of the buildings have 2-3 floors and no roofs. The lack of weather also means that the buildings' windows have no glass or shutters. Simple curtains suffice. Low-level window sills often have sharp metal to prevent climbing inside. Some buildings extend underground into the sandy dirt on the geode's floor.

A prominent feature of Kor's Geode is The Citadel. Suspended on chains high above the city, the Citadel is the home of the CEO of the Kor's Geode Crystal Co. and ruler of the city, Kor Andesite III. The citadel is built of timber and lightweight stone panels, making it appear similar to buildings below but much lighter. It's chained to the geode's outer shell at eight points with heavy steel chains. A wooden bridge connects the citadel to the lift shaft that runs up one side of the geode.

Powerful lights on the the citadel illuminate the entire geode with purple light shining through the amethysts on the cavern's walls, casting the city in permanent twilight.

Culture

Kor's Geode is a blue-collar company town. Only employees of the Kor's Geode Crystal Co. and their families may reside permanently within the city. The population living inside the geode is almost entirely Mountain Dwarves with a few Duergar.

The culture of the geode revolves entirely around the work of harvesting and exporting crystals. Work is hard, hours are long, and many of the inhabitants live in near-poverty while the CEO and company executives live lavishly in the palatial Citadel. 

The Crystal Co. employs some townspeople as a city watch and small defensive force. Larger-scale defense is provided by Skyperch's airship fleet.

Politics

The entire mountain containing Kor's Geode is owned by the Kor's Geode Crystal Co. All properties on and inside the mountain are leased from the company. The CEO of the company is the city's despotic ruler. Succession is handled by the company's executive board but since the city's founding it has always been ruled by a member of House Andesite.

To date there has been one strike in the city's history. Striking workers protesting long working hours and their lack of say in the city's governance were violently rounded up and exiled from the city. Thirty-six died. This short of "trouble-making" is now heavily frowned upon.

Stat Block (Pathfinder)

Kor's Geode, The Broken Teeth, Ashdar

LN Large Town
Corruption +4; Crime +1; Economy +2; Law +4; Lore +0; Society -4
Qualities defensible, racial enclave, insular
Disadvantages impoverished
Danger 5

Demographics

Government Overlord (CEO)
Population 3,800 (90% Mountain Dwarves, 8% Syldarri Elves, 1% Duergar, 1% Other Races)

Notable NPCs

CEO of Kor's Geode Crystal Co. Kor Andesite III (mountain dwarf, male, LN, Aristocrat 6 / Expert 3, age 179)
Watch Commander Halite MacMorag (mountain dwarf, male, LE, Fighter 7, age 130)
Anarchist Brazz (duergar, male, CG, Psion 5, age 96)

Marketplace

Base Value 2,000 gp; Purchase Limit 10,000 gp; Spellcasting 5th
Minor/Medium/Major items: 3d4 / 2d4 / 1d4

Next Time

Next week's article will be a Elvish Engineering article covering airships, how they operate, and their role in the world of Teredahar.

Elvish Engineering: Powerstones

Another new article series? Madness! I was all prepared to alternate Cities and Factions articles for a couple months when I realized there are some key pieces of tech that are essential to the purposes of certain cities or factions. So I'm going to sprinkle these tech articles into the mix as needed to make later articles make sense. Spoiler: next week's article will involve powerstones, so I'm explaining them now.

Announcements done. Where was I?

Powerstones

Description

A powerstone is a lump of crystal imbued with magical energy. This can be raw, undifferentiated power but more often is a specific spell. Sometimes crystals that don't contain any magic are still called powerstones because they are intended for that purpose. The amount of magic that can be contained is proportional to the quality of the crystal and its size. For example, a very large milky quartz has about the same capacity as a small flawless diamond. Cut doesn't really matter beyond physical size so powerstones are often shaped for a specific purpose.

The most common powerstones are made of rough-cut quartz and are about the size of a fist. Amethyst is another common material. Corundums such as ruby and sapphire are less common. Diamond powerstones are extremely rare. Size naturally decreases with rarity.

Usage

Cracking or shattering a powerstone immediately triggers the spell or releases the raw energy stored within. Raw energy released in this way escapes in a big explosion.

There are three common uses for powerstones:

• The smallest powerstones are used to store spells within jewelery and clothing (this is not the same as Spell Storing items and weapon enhancements). The setting will have a mechanism to crack the crystal and release the spell.
• Medium powerstones are commonly used as weapons by imbuing them with raw energy and intentionally breaking them on enemies. 
• The largest powerstones are used to bind elementals in the cores of airships for propulsion (Airships will get a full article on March 6th).

Powerstones can be used as artillery shells. A smoothly-ground spherical or columnar powerstone be clad in a metal casing and fired from a cannon with some accuracy. The casing cracks the stone on impact with the target. Powerstones used in this way usually have raw magical energy imbued into them but sometimes specific spells are used (such as to create a smoke screen or release poison gas).

Creation

Any crystal or gemstone can be used to create a powerstone. Gems worth 50gp or less can store a 2nd-level spell. The required gp value doubles for each additional spell level; a gem that is large and valuable enough to hold a 9th-level spell would be worth 65,000gp. No such gems are known to exist.

Unlike scrolls, a spell released from a powerstone retains the caster level of its creator. No skill is needed to activate a powerstone. In fact, they must be handled with care to prevent accidental (explosive) breakage.

Next Week

Next week's article will be a Cities article about the dwarven city Kor's Geode, Ashdar. Kor's Geode is a prominent source of raw crystals used in powerstone production.

Factions of Teredahar: The Ashram Academy

The Ashram Academy was founded in TR 9500 during the waning years of Tan'Rar's dominion over the world. It was founded by the Azan, one of the Hebdomad as a school to train Warmages to fight the armies of other Hebdomad (Zero in particular) in their war. The institution has existed for nearly 600 years in present day, continuing to follow the orders of its eternal Headmaster but also branching out into other areas of education after the Headmaster's departure from Prime.

Today's Ashram Academy has two faces: The Warmage academy, which remains true to the institution's original purpose; and the more-generally-purposed "civilian" academy which trains mages, historians, and engineers of all sorts.

The banner of the Ashram Academy is Azan's personal banner, "The Triflame," with a golden chief added. It is flown at all Academy facilities and on their airships.

The "Warmage Academy"

The centre of Warmage training is the Academy's original campus: a mountainside fortress at the south end of the Ashram Vale perched above where the vale's river plunges dramatically into the Sea of Rime. It is a virtually-impregnable fortress unwelcoming to any visitors. Within its walls Warmage initiates undergo intensive military training in addition to magical studies. What magic they do study is narrowly focused on skills useful on the battlefield: evocation, abjuration, and conjuration. The finest evokers in the world, possibly in all the planes, are Ashram Academy graduates.

Into the fire!

- Warmage battle cry

Warmage basic training takes six years. Graduates of the Warmage Academy are guaranteed a place in the Warmage Corps within Azan's army. While not mandatory, refusing this posting carries a stigma of being ungrateful and not giving back to the Academy. Each year's graduating class is led by portal to Azan's headquarters on the shard-plane Gran Transit to join forces heading to front lines on any of a dozen Shards.

Veterans too old or wounded to fight anymore are often invited into teaching positions within the Academy (both as warmage instructors and civilian instructors). Many choose to retire in nearby Sylridian.

On Prime itself, the Warmage Corps function as a paramilitary force who answer to the Headmaster but are usually in the service of the Lords Masisters (the ruling council of the nation of Syldar, where the Academy is located). They serve as a reserve force when national military forces need extra firepower or magical expertise.

The "Civilian Academy"

The Ashram Academy operates a "satellite campus" (in truth larger than its original mountain campus) within the city of Sylridian, Syldar. This urban campus comprises several large lecture buildings, libraries, dormitories, and research offices sprawling over almost 1/8 of the city's extent. Students of the Ashram Academy are a large, visible part of Sylridian's population. They come from all walks of life and train in all of the fields of magic except martial forms of magic deemed too dangerous to practice in an urban environment.

Initiate-level non-Warmage training takes four years. Many wizards stay on and continue their education for several years more. The academy in Sylridian also trains officers for non-magical military forces in Syldar, its neighbours, and other planes connected via portals.

Gameplay Notes

• Warmages
• Warmage graduates will have any Lawful alignment, though Lawful Evil personalities are usually weeded out in the first few years.
• Warmages have military ranks, modeled off of real-world army ranks. 
• Warmages often have a fraternal attitude towards each other, and a massive superiority complex over other martial types. 
• Non-Warmages
• Graduates can be of any alignment, though again Evil personalities tend to filter out early.
• Non-warmage Ashram students and graduates often see the Warmages as "violent assholes with overblown egos," neither to be messed with nor taken too seriously.
• The civilian Ashram Academy trains non-mages as well in fields including Alchemy, various crafting trades, and engineering.
• The Ashram Academy has tremendous influence across Teredahar. 
• One of the 5 seats among Lords Magisters who rule the nation of Syldar is reserved for the currently-sitting mortal headmaster of the Academy (Azan's title as Headmaster is traditional). 
• If you're a Wizard on Teredahar, you've heard of the Ashram Academy, and either know someone who trained there or trained there yourself.

Next Time

Next week's article will be on a piece of tech the Elves invented that plays an important role in the magical-technological environment of Teredahar: Powerstones.

Cities In-Depth: Dolvan Keep, Din

Another new article series! Cities In-Depth will profile a specific major settlement and provide details about its architecture, culture, politics, and history. I'll also include a complete city stat block for use with Pathfinder.

Map

This is a basic map showing only major avenues and landmarks. Fill in details as needed.
Map download (Google Docs / PDF)

Location

Dolvan Keep is a large city located the United Republic of Din's northeast, approximately 10 miles south of the Crimson Marsh and 70 miles from the coast, where Copper River empties out into the Dinwash River. This region of Din is mostly forested hills and rolling farmland. The city's namesake keep is located at the northern terminus of an escarpment that runs for several miles southwards towards the foothills of the Torran Spine, roughly following the course of the Copper River. The region's climate is temperate, experiencing all four seasons and the occasional coastal storm that wracks the region with rain or snow.

Architecture

The city of Dolvan Keep grew organically around its eponymous fortress. Most houses and businesses are built of river stones and timber with steeply pitched, shingled roofs. In the lower districts they are built very close together with numerous dark, narrow alleys running between them. The largest buildings outside of the keep and church are three stories tall including their roofs.

Boxtown district gets its name for the large, flat-roofed factories and warehouses built from quarried stone and heavy timber. Many of these buildings have blank, windowless facades giving the district the dull appearance of rows of boxes. Mill street is similarly industrial, with several prominent factories along the copper river's waterfront using water-wheels driven by the river. 

Highwatch and Iron Hill are upper-class districts with several very large houses and numerous small parks. Bywater and Westridge are working-class neighbourhoods of small-but-orderly houses along small-but-orderly streets. The Lower Ward and Keeptown are both low-class districts. These districts are densely built, heavily populated, tight and dark. These districts are considered to be an extreme fire-hazard.

The keep is built from quarried stone blocks and river stones. It was built by mountain dwarves after the The Occupation. It has seen battle only once (during The Revolution when Din's citizenry overthrew the ruling vampire cult) and was relatively undamaged during that conflict. Most of the original dwarven stonework remains in good condition.

Culture

There are three prominent cultural centres: Temple Square in Bywater, the Central Market at the foot of iron hill, and The Keep. Dolvan Keep's culture is a mixing-pot of human and dwarven traditions that revolves around these centres. Social stratification is very prominent outside of the centres, with various classes keeping to their own districts.

Piety plays a big role in Dolvan Keep's culture. It was paladins in the service of The Dawnbringer led by local legend Aurus Pyrite who freed the area the grasp of an immortal cult of vampires. Now The Church of The Dawnbringer stands as the second-largest building in the city and its bells ring across the city at dawn every morning.

Unlike many cities on Teredahar, Dolvan Keep actually has a civilian police force separate from the city's guard.

Politics

Dolvan Keep is the seat of the parliament of the United Republic of Din. Political leaders and party members from around the nation mostly live in Highwatch and keep to themselves. The city itself is run by an elected autocrat with the purely-traditional title of Prince and a council of advisors. The populace are generally satisfied with this leadership.

Stat Block (Pathfinder)

Dolvan Keep, United Republic of Din

NG Large City
Corruption +0; Crime +3; Economy +3, Law +1, Lore +3, Society +3
Qualities holy site, notorious, racist, strategic location, pious
Danger +20

Demographics

Government Autocracy (Prince-Elect)
Population 19,500 (50% humans, 20% mountain dwarves, 10% syldarri(elves), 8% plains dwarves, 4% kurudari(halflings), 8% assorted other races)

Notable NPCs

Prince-Elect Ado Augite (mountain dwarf, male, NG, Aristocrat 7, age 161)
Lord Deacon Aurus Pyrite (mountain dwarf, male, LG, Paladin of The Dawnbringer 14, age 128)
Crime Boss "Red Hand" Anders (human male, NE, Rogue 8, age 31)

Marketplace

Base Value 11,200 gp; Purchase Limit 75,000 gp; Spellcasting divine 9th / arcane 7th
Minor/Medium/Major items: 4d4 / 3d4 / 2d4
Racism cost +150% if not human or dwarf, +150% if openly not Good-aligned, merchants refuse to deal with undead necromancers of any kind or obvious necromancers.

Next Time

Next week's article will be a Factions article covering The Ashram Academy, Teredahar's largest mage school and paramilitary force.

Teredahar History & Mythology - Dragonblight

No force in history is more powerful than disease. In real-world history disease is a far more effective killer than battle and war. The same is true in Teredahar. Disease is inescapable, and no disease has had a greater impact on the world's history than Dragonblight.

Dragonblight is a rapidly-spreading airborne fungus that grows on and under the scales of most lizards. If allowed to grow, the blight secretes chemicals that cause the scales to become brittle and break off prematurely. Most lizards shed scales often enough that the blight's effects do not cause any significant harm. Dragons, however, live so long and grow so slowly after reaching adulthood that they cannot regrow scales fast enough to keep up with scale loss caused by the blight. As the blight spreads, dangerous gaps in an afflicted dragon's scales begin to open up. Dragonblight itself is not deadly; rather these scale gaps leave the dragon vulnerable to injury or infection which eventually prove deadly.

It is believed that Dragonblight was brought to the Dragons' homeworld Prime when the Teredahar continent was conjured. The Elves of Tan'Rar built Teredahar by intentionally merging several Shards drifting in the Void into Prime. Elvish scholars suspect that the Dragonblight fungus came from one of these shards. Regardless of where it came from, it first infected dragons and drakoni during their wars on Teredahar.

The infection spread quickly through ranks of drakoni footsoldiers and their true-dragon masters. It takes weeks for an infection of dragonblight to start showing symptoms. The delay meant by the time its effects were first noticed among the forward troops the blight already had already spread to the Home Islands and had much of the high command in its sights. Rampant dragonblight infections proved disastrous for the dragon forces, causing the collapse of their occupation of Tan'Rar. Efforts to eradicate the fungus from the Home Islands were unsuccessful. Untimately, more than three-quarters of dragons over 150 years of age and nearly all of the Acnient dragons died in the following millennia. Drakoni, who can resist the blight's effects, became the ruling class of dragon society. Their culture eventually replaced that of dragons in the draconic-speaking world.

Gameplay Notes

• Dragons. Are. Rare. There's less than a handful of great wyrms left in the world. Most dragons don't live through adulthood. 
• Blighted Dragons have reduced natural armour and physical stats depending on how advanced the blight's damage is. 
• Advanced dragonblight leaves the sufferer open to other diseases. Common secondary symptoms of dragonblight are blindness, lethargy, and insanity. 
• Surviving wyrms seclude themselves from other dragonkin (Dragons, Drakoni, Lizardfolk, etc.) who can carry blight spores and disease without knowing it.
• An example, Kezzadraz the Desert King is a blue great wyrm who secludes himself inside a cave overlooking the Drakoni city of Voltac. Nobody has seen him in years. He only allows select personal handlers into his presence and rumor has it his mind is going.

Next Time

This concludes Dragon Week. Bit of a downer ending, I know, but the Drakoni have a rich culture that carries on the dragons' legacy. I've got articles planned that will explore their culture in exquisite detail and I guarantee it will make them stand out from other races like the Dragonborn of D&D.

Next week will premiere the second new article-series of 2015: Cities in-depth, wherein I'll describe one of the major cities of Teredahar complete with notes on its architecture, layout, culture, and a stat block for use with Pathfinder.

Factions of Teredahar - Drakoni Castes

New article series! Each Factions of Teredahar will article will provide details on one or more related factions that characters might take as allies or enemies. Because this is Dragon Month, this first article will cover the four castes of modern Drakoni society.

Four Equal Castes

Most Drakoni are divided into four castes: Growers (KasKhenda), Smiths (KasShenéth), Scholars (Nalethséth), and Keepers (KasNókrasharRhokar Sendar). Each caste has its own internal politics and laws (Caste Law) that are superseded by Council Law.

Castes are expected to take care of their own. Grievances and disputes between members of the same caste are expected to be dealt with by that caste's leaders. Conflict between castes is rare but not unheard of. Causing inter-caste strife is a serious crime in Drakoni society.

Each caste also contributes its own warriors to Drakonia's military force, the Legion Drakoni. 

Caste Membership

A newly-hatched Drakoni is a member of his or her mother's caste throughout childhood. During this time they are taught by caste members but no caste-specific education happens. Upon reaching adulthood at 90 years of age all Drakoni undergo a ceremony ritual Life-Choosing (Khanalvarnketh).

At the Khanalvarnketh ritual a Drakoni chooses either to stay with his or her mother caste or join a different one. Often all Drakoni of an age within a settlement undergo this ritual together. During the ritual representatives from each caste attempt to recruit new members. Everyone is taught about all of the castes from a young age, but this is the only time and place that overt recruiting is permitted. Once the ritual is complete, whatever caste a Drakoni chooses is his for life. Switching caste afterwards is not permitted.

The Four Castes

A Female Drakoni of the Nalethséth

Growers

KasKhenda

Farmers, herders, gardeners, and trackers are some of the roles this caste encompasses. Generally speaking this caste deals with the wilds and things that live and grow. Most of the Legion's infantry come from the Grower Caste.

Sniths

KasShenéth

This castes' members are mostly artisans and craftsmen. This caste's role in society revolves around artifice. As you might expect, of all the castes this caste has the most followers of The Way of the Forge. Members of the Smith Caste make up much of the Legion's logistical and equipment support.

Scholars

Nalethséth

Drakoni mages are almost exclusively members of the Scholar Caste. Members of this caste are academics, authors, and explorers concerned with new discoveries and creating new ideas for the advancement of Drakonia. The Scholar Caste also trains and equips war-mages to serve in the Legion.

Keepers

KasNókrashar

The Caste of Keepers are the defenders of Drakonia's history, monuments, and relics. The Keepers provide guards for important cultural sites and maintain large archives where records and historical artifacts are kept. During times of war the Keepers provide maps, intelligence, and aid in communication between Legion forces.

Next Time

Next week's article will be a mythology article on The Dragonblight, an affliction that has severely reduced the number of dragons in the world.

Module - The Fall of Beacon City (CR 7+)

I've (almost) finished another module. This module is the first episode of a plane-hopping campaign I originally ran a couple years ago using Pathfinder. It has been converted to 5th Edition and formalized way more than it used to. Some parts are still incomplete and it has yet to be playtested.

Summary

The party are a group of former-adventurers drafted into the army of Headmaster Azan (a Hebdomad) to defend Prime against the approaching armies of Zero the Unifier. They've been deployed to a city well behind the front lines to help prepare its defenses when the enemy arrive early and in far greater numbers than expected. The city is quickly overrun and they must now escape before they're found and killed.

This module introduces players to many of the concepts of Teredahar's expanded cosmology, including the Hebdomad, Shard planes, and the races that live both on Prime and throughout the multiverse. The Pyren are introduced in this module as a major enemy race that will be encountered numerous times again throughout the campaign.

Download Link

View/Download (PDF)
Note: Appendices and playtesting are still incomplete. Feedback appreciated. 

License

This module uses the Open Game License. The setting is also usable under Creative Commons - Attribution 4.0. So if you want to use it for anything else, you just need to credit me. I'd appreciate feedback, though. Tweet me @too_many_knives.

Module - The Green Ridge Incident (CR 5)

Update: The module's boss mechanics have been modified significantly following playtesting. 

Small announcement here. I've finished the first draft of a tiny adventure module using 5E rules and set in Teredahar. This is my first go at writing a formal adventure module. It has been an interesting exercise. I'll be writing at least one more of these next month.

View / Download (PDF)

License

This module uses the Open Game License. The setting is also usable under Creative Commons - Attribution 4.0. So if you want to use it for anything else, you just need to credit me. I'd appreciate feedback, though. Tweet me @too_many_knives.

Teredahar History & Mythology - Drakoni Religion

During the millennia of living as a worker/soldier underclass among Dragon society, the Drakoni were unwelcome in Dragon religious circles. During this time they formed their own spiritual beliefs more suited to their place in society.

The Way of the Forge

Kos Szar ha kos Széth

The Drakoni religion is centered around the notion that work itself is sacred, and that all objects of artifice are imbued with a bit of divine power. The blacksmith at his forge creates a sword imbued with a fragment of divinity using tools that are themselves religious objects. The symbol of a blacksmith forging weapons, armour, and other tools is commonly used in religious teachings, giving the faith its common name, The Way of the Forge.

Priest-Masters

Vánáhaek

It is expected that when a follower of The Way of the Forge can no longer practice their profession due to injury or age they become priest-master. Priest-masters are part cleric, part teacher, and part judge. It is the duty of each priest-master to ensure that his or her profession keeps a healthy number of apprentice and journeyman members and maintains high standards of both instruction and product quality. Priest-masters evaluate apprentices and journeymen and decide when they may move up in the ranks. They are also able to reprimand bad teachers and shoddy workmen, imposing demotions, fines, or in extreme cases banishing members from their profession.

Tools are divine.

Haß-sen Hrak

Any craftsman's tools are considered religious artifacts, because they are used to perform work in sacred professions. The Way of the Forge recognizes any crafting profession as an expression of faith, but primarily its practitioners are weaponsmiths, armourers, scribes, tanners, fletchers, and alchemists. Practitioners' tools are often of the finest quality, built of durable materials and adorned in ways that do not impede their function. Retired crafters who become priest-masters often posses less functional, decorative versions of their tools made which they display or carry as religious icons.

Crafting is worship.

Váháleth kha Shenéth

Certain recipes, designs, and methods are sacred to the Way of the Forge. Using these are akin to performing religious rites. They are precise and must be followed correctly or risk reprimand from a priest-magister. These recipes do not encompass all products; rather they are a standardized set of commonly-needed artifacts. Examples are sword blades, armour plates, and inks.

Divinity is made.

Shenéth-sen Haßkar

The act of making some piece of artifice imbues it with with a piece of the craftsman's soul, as well as the souls of the makers of all of that craftsman's tools. The combination of these souls is called the kash verséth (lit. "small power"), the power of the souls in the artifact. Craftsmen make tools for other craftsmen who use them in their own trade, spreading the power of their souls throughout the world.

Gameplay Notes

Followers of The Way of the Forge are primarily Drakoni, but some Dwarves identify with and follow the Way as well. Here are some notes for playing followers of this religion.

• Practitioners of The Way will be invested in a crafting skill and own a masterwork set of tools for their craft.
• The religion's alignment is Lawful Good.
• The religion's domains are Artifice, Law, Rune, and Knowledge.
• If a follower uses a holy symbol, it will be an ornate but functional tool of their chosen crafting skill. Golden holy symbols are often steel with golden inlays rather than pure gold as it is a soft metal generally not suited for tools.
• A follower will know at least one priest-master either directly or through their teacher
• Priest-masters function as a psuedo-governmental / regulatory body for most crafting professions in Drakoni-controlled regions

Next Time

Next week's article will introduce a new article series: Factions. It will cover the Drakoni caste system and the factions within it.

Races of Teredahar: Drakoni

The first Drakoni were found on a remote island in the Dragon Sea around TR 500. The Dragons found them living among a tribes of Lizardfolk, who worshiped them as physical gods. They were disturbed by the implications raised by the existence of the Drakoni, so it was decided to bring several specimens back to the Home Islands for study.

The Drakoni as a species share a common ancestor with Lizardfolk and lesser Dragons. They are not hybrids of any living species. On the Dragon Home Islands a small colony of Drakoni were settled and allowed to flourish (much like the Elves in Goldgrace; see last week's article). Within greater Dragon society the Drakoni became a class of servants and foot-soldiers.

When the Dragons invaded Teredahar in the late 6100s it was the Drakoni doing most of the fighting on the on the ground and in the skies.

In recent years with the Dragonblight killing off many of the world's dragons (more on this in a later article), the Drakoni have come to take over Draconic society. They now rule the Home Islands and have only intermittent contact with Teredahar.

Drakoni are fully reptilian and have crocodile-like features. They're cold-blooded, hatch from eggs, and only need to eat every few days at most. Average Drakoni height is 7 feet and they weigh about 250 pounds. Female Drakoni are bulkier than males but otherwise hard to tell apart visually. They don't have the bold colouring of true dragons; rather their scales are mostly mottled grey with a hint of colour. They have broad wings capable of flight which fold tightly behind their backs when standing. Some Drakoni have small horns on the tops of their heads. Some have modified scales growing from the backs of their head that resemble thick, cable-like strands of hair. All Drakoni have clawed hands and feet though most file their claws to be better able to use tools and weapons.

A Male Drakoni Paladin

Drakoni Racial Stats (24 RP)

Ability Score Racial Traits: +2 Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution; +4 Wisdom; -2 Charisma
Type: Drakoni count as Dragons despite being more closely related to Lizardfolk.
Size: Medium
Base Speed: 30 feet. A Drakoni wearing light or no armour can fly with a speed of 30 feet and clumsy maneuverability. Drakoni wearing heavier armour cannot fly but can use their wings to slow their fall or glide.
Starting Languages: Common (Elvish) and Draconic.

Defense Racial Traits

Natural Armour: Drakoni scales provide +2 natural armour.
Immunities: Drakoni are immune to sleep and paralysis effects.

Offense Racial Traits

Claws: Drakoni have claws that can be used as nautral weapons. Drakoni have two claw attacks that deal 1d4+Strength damage. These cannot be used if wielding a weapon or carrying a shield.

Senses Racial Traits

Darkvision: Drakoni have darkvision to 60 feet.
Low-Light Vision: Drakoni can see twice as far as Humans in dim light.

Starting Age

Drakoni reach adulthood of 90 years of age and live about 800 years.

Drakoni Monster Stat Block

Drakoni Soldier

CR 1

XP 400
Drakoni Warrior 1
Medium Dragon
Init +1; Senses Perception +3, Darkvision 60', Low-Light Vision

Defense

AC 18 (+4 Armour (Chain Shirt), +1 Shield, +1 Dex, +2 Natural); Flat-footed 17; Touch 11
HP 6 (1d10+1)
Fort +3, Ref +1, Will +1
Immune Sleep, Paralysis

Offense

Speed 30', fly 30' (clumsy)
Melee Warhammer +4 (1d8+3, x3)

Statistics

Str 16, Dex 12, Con 12, Wis 12, Int 10, Cha 6
Feats Power Attack
Skills Fly +1, Perception +3
Languages Common, Draconic

Next Time

Next week's article will cover the religion practiced by the majority of Drakoni.

Teredahar History & Mythology: The First & Second Dragon Wars

Happy New Year! Welcome to Dragon Month. All this month I'll be writing about Dragons an their bloody history with the Elves. 

Planar Collisions

Ten thousand years ago the Elves' homeworld was shattered by the wars of its would-be stewards. This cataclysm flung pieces of their world outwards into the Void, becoming what are called Shards. These Shards carried terrain, raw materials, and even survivors of the cataclysm outwards across the Void in all directions. Currents in the Void brought some of these Shards to Prime, where they collided with it.

A plane collision isn't like a meteorite. They don't fall from the sky in balls of fire or create massive explosions when they land. Rather, a collision is more like stacking sheets of transparent plastic. One minute there's an ocean, the next there's an island. Whatever was there before is displaced, either out into the void or to somewhere else on the same plane (usually in a million small pieces).

What does this have to do with the Dragon Wars? Well, the Dragons had never seen a plane collision before. If one minute there's a city and the next there's a mountain, would it not be reasonable to think you were under attack? The cataclysm caused hundreds of shard collisions all over Prime.

First Contact

The Elves arrived on Prime in the year zero their calendar (TR 0), early in the wave of shard collisions that would continue until TR 317. In TR 40 the Elves' new civilization caught the interest of the Dragons. First contact was made that year when the Dragons' council sent the Gold Dragon Praetor Khalizanth to meet with the Elvish King Amastatica. Khalizanth granted the Elves a broad tract of uninhabited land on the world's southern continent (Goldgrace, Loraida) as their domain, and let them be.

Disaster and War

By TR 150 the Elves had outgrown Goldgrace and claimed more territory on Loraida without the Dragons' leave. This did not yet attract the Dragons' ire, not until three things happened: A wave of plane collisions across the south transformed large swaths of dragon-held mountain steppes into grassland, Elvish settlers began openly worshiping their own gods and built their first temples, and a plane collision erased the Grand Citadel of Bahamut from existence, replacing it with an inland sea (The Eye of Eternity). The highly religious Dragon deemed that the Elves' gods sought to destroy their own, and ordered the destruction of the Elves.

The First Dragon War was a near-total rout for the Elves. By some estimates three quarters of Loraida was burned when the Dragons struck. Only intervention by Khalizanth and his Golden Army saved the Elves from being wiped out. Once again the Elves were boxed in on Goldgrace; forced to renounce their gods and live meagerly.

Aside: Time & Generations

It may seem a little preposterous to have a civilization exist for 2000 or 10000 years and not advance further than this. To that I say, "what a very Human perspective." Elves are not humans. Dragons are not humans. Both races have average lifespans an order of magnitude longer than Humans. Why should their society advance at the same speed as ours? Elves don't even reach adulthood until they're 110 years old! Dragons are about the same. Both races can live to be over 1000 years old. Two lifetimes from grass huts to massive cities seems pretty fast now, doesn't it? For some parts of the real world that's about spot on.

Peace

By TR 317 the plane collisions stopped. Two years later the King of Tan'Rar negotiated control of more territory for the Elves (mostly grassland) to expand their kingdom. Centuries of relative peace followed and Tan'Rar continued to grow. As long as the Elves were good tenants, the ruling council of the Dragons allowed them to live and flourish.

The Elves were forbidden from settling outside of their land grants, but allowed to travel and explore. This peace became the Age of Exploration. There were four key discoveries during this age: The locations of the Dragons' capital and major colonies (ca. TR 440), Humans (ca. TR 655), The Mana Well (ca. TR 1000), and Levistone (ca. TR 1530). In two thousand years (~17 generations of Elves) the Elves had gone from living in grass huts to having massive cities of stone, mages, cannons, and airships. Tan'Rar was bursting the bounds of the Dragons' land grants, and the Dragons were becoming uneasy with the Elves advancement.

The Battle of Rakos Bridge

A show of force was called for to put the Elves back in line. Arsaan the Red was sent with a dozen of her brood to destroy the Elves' grand academy and burn their library at Rakos Bridge. It was thought this would set the Elves back a few hundred years and discourage them from expanding further. Things did not go as the Dragons had planned.

The Elves had invented divination and knew the attack was coming. When Arsaan and her red brood descended upon Rakos Bridge, they were greeted with airships armed with hooked net launchers, harpoons, drug-raged Human berserkers and Elvish wizards hurling acid and lightning. Arsaan and her reds were wiped out. The Elves mounted Arsaan's head above on the gates of the Rakos Bridge academy and used the scales of her brood to make armour and plate airship hulls. The Second Dragon War had begun.

The Conquest of Loraida

Using their new weapons the Elves were able to expand out in all directions, pushing the Dragons clear from the southern continent (which the Elves call Loraida). Only when they reached the ocean were the dragons able to hold. Elvish airships of the time were vulnerable without mages on the ground for support, and their sailing ships had all been burned in the first stages of the war. A truce was reached: The Elves could have Loraida and continue trading with the Humans, but any ship within 100 miles of Dragon territory would be destroyed on sight.

By TR 2110 the Kingdom of Tan'Rar had expanded into an empire controlling all of Loraida and the Elves were once again at peace with the Dragons.

Gameplay Notes 

(Rob: I'll be including sections like this with bullets on storytelling, roleplay, and game rules in all future history & mythology articles.)

• Dragons and Elves hate eachother, almost universally, and to a far greater degree than any other race. Dragonkin and anyone else raised in Draconic-speaking culture have probably been raised to hate Elves as imperialist conquerors. Elvish- and Human-speaking cultures likewise raise their members to fear Dragons as tyrannical monsters. 
• The world's southern continent, "Loraida", is littered with ruins of old Elvish settlements dating back to the expansionist days of Tan'Rar. 
• Planar collisions still happen from time to time. They rapidly and permanently change the terrain and can bring features with them including new terrain, buildings, and life forms. 
• Planar collisions can be caused intentionally by powerful magic, though the precise knowledge of how to do this is lost to the ages. The continent of Teredahar was created in this way.
• Planes and Shards can also have a "glancing blow" or pass through each other without merging. This can create any number of effects including slight weather changes, hauntings, natural portals, and invasions of Outsiders.

Next Time

In TR 2300 a new race emerged amongst the Dragons: Drakoni. This isn't a modified race but rather my own take on the "humanoid dragon race" trope. I'll profile this race, their history, and provide both racial stats and monster stat blocks.