Post by Rabbit on Mar 18, 2014 21:17:08 GMT -5
Locations
The Gatehouse: A City within a City
This will be the characters’ base of operations when the game starts. At its most basic description The Gatehouse is a series of inter-planar gateways housed within an underground complex the size of a small city. It is a port of call for refugees, smugglers, businessmen, diplomats and travelers from a thousand worlds.
Despite The Gatehouse’s unsettling abolith styled architecture most travelers find lodging, hold meetings, and conduct their business all within the walls of The Gatehouse without ever setting foot in the surrounding city of Silent Falls. The diversity of The Gatehouse’s transient population makes for a far more cosmopolitan and open minded environment compared to the xenophobic Duerger of greater Silent Falls.
Silent Falls: A Brief History
The city now known as Silent Falls was built upon a foundation that dates back thousands of years before any dwarves ever travelled these caves. Deep within Faerun’s Underdark there was a submerged labyrinth of caverns filled by a subterranean water system. Thousands of years worth of moving water dug river-tunnels and expanded the caverns creating a vast chamber. It is believed that during this time the mysterious aboliths built what is now called The Gatehouse within the submerged cavern. Eventually the water receded leaving an empty honeycomb of tunnels and The Gatehouse behind. Presumably this forced the aboliths to abandon the caverns for deeper waters or perhaps to another plane altogether.
In centuries to come, a hobgoblin empire, the Chu’rcoz, claimed the caverns as their own. The goblinoids feared The Gatehouse and avoided the mantle it rests upon. Instead, the architects of the Chu’rcoz built a vast number of chambers and tunnels into the underground. At some point a catastrophe of unknown origins set upon the city. The population was decimated and the society collapsed. Most survivors fled into other regions of the Underdark and brought with them dark tales of otherworldly terrors.
Thousands of years later when the Duerger settlers explored this region the cavern was stumbled upon and named Silent Falls. They enslaved what goblins still resided in the ruins and erected a fortress within. The Duerger sealed off The Gatehouse and the lower wards of the ancient hobgoblin city as a result of stories told by the goblins they enslaved. Silent Falls prospered and grew into a powerful metropolis once again. Over the course of the next 800 years, Silent Falls’ monuments, towers, and fortresses continued to rise as Droskar, the Duerger's god, calls for endless labor from his followers. Today there is hardly any part of the vast cavern that has not been worked and re-worked by Duerger hands. They have even opened up the old goblin wards to expand the city.
It was 200 years ago when The Gatehouse suddenly came to life and became active. It’s portals opened and contact was made with the multiverse. How the deep dwarves were able to master The Gatehouse is a closely guarded secret known only by the city’s most powerful Duerger. Most outsiders speculate that the Duerger must have had some outside assistance as they have never been known for their arcane abilities. What the Duerger lack in arcane skills and open mindedness they have made up for in pragmatism and shrewd business sense. For the last two centuries they have strengthened their control of the region and have turned Silent Falls into a boom town on the frontier of the entire universe.
Notable Races (the locals)
Duerger: The Duerger are by far the most populous race in Silent Falls and The Gatehouse. Their wizards run The Gatehouse’s daily operations and their soldiers enforce the peace. The Duerger ruling class profit from the planar trading routes as well as the heavy taxes (and bribes) they demand from anyone looking to do business here. However, the common Duerger citizen sees little of this profit. More than a few Duerger have sought to find their own ways in the planar expanse. These Duergers are often from the lowest level of the Duerger caste system. Any Duerger not content to endlessly toil in whatever role they were born to is a pariah in Duerger culture. Some Duerger clergy point to this trend as proof that The Gatehouse is a corrupting influence on Duerger society.
Drow: The dark elves native to Fauren’s underdark are the largest minority present in the city. Drow armies attempted to take the portal for themselves in centuries past but always failed. Eventually the Drow were able to find a foothold not through conquest but through commerce. Ambitious Drow without noble standing or ties to the great Drow city-states have formed a merchant class in Silent Falls. The Drow merchants are accepted by the Duerger as long as they pay their fees, taxes, and bribes while keeping their interests focused on merchant activities.
Goblinoids and Orcs: These creatures have no standing in Duerger society. They are used for slave labor, indentured bodyguards, and war fodder. However, within The Gatehouse some of these races are able to blend in with the cosmopolitan population and scratch out a living. Some more enlightened goblinoids from other planes have even started to openly protest the plight of their imprisoned brethren.
Dwarf (Non-Duerger): The Duerger and the other dwarf races have hated each other as long as their histories have been recorded. From time to time a travelling dwarf attempts to conducts business within the Gatehouse, but their presence so incites Duerger society few think it is worth the risk. Just last week a dwarf was literally torn apart by a mob of concerned Duerger citizens, and his business partner’s property was confiscated as evidence...
The Material Plane: Home Sweet Home
The Realms
Within the Prime Material Plane there are multiple worlds typically referred to as “Realms.” These realms operate under the same basic rules of the universe, but each has their own unique histories and features. Most inhabitants of these realms go about their existences mostly unaware of their sister worlds.
The First World: This realm is believed to be the old gods' first draft of the subsequent planes which would later split into the greater Material Plane and the Shadow Plane. Harder to reach than other Prime Material realms The First World is said to exist somehow “behind” the other planes. Some races found on the Material Plane also have counterparts in the First World. It is widely accepted that gnomes migrated from The First World which explains their unique physiology.
Golgarion: Golarion is believed to be one in a series of ‘second worlds’ created after the gods turned away from The First World. It was also the birthplace and pet project of the recently fallen god Aroden. At the moment of Aroden’s disappearance the entire realm was racked with natural disaster leaving behind the Eye of Abendego (a permanent hurricane) and the World Wound (an open rift to the Abyss.) Sucks for them.
Faerun ‘The Forgotten Realm’: A realm much like Golgarion but with its own seperate rich cultures and history. Faerun’s ‘underdark’ territories are legendary and rival in size even Eberron’s ‘Dragon Below.’ It is in this underdark in which The Gatehouse resides, and our players have made a home for themselves.
Athas ‘The Dark Sun’: Athas was once a blue planet teeming with life much like its sisters realms. Abused, exploited, and mismanaged by its natives Athas has since been stripped of its fertility. A great war corrupted the land and skies even decaying its sun. It is a sun-burnt land forsaken by the gods, water, and hope.
Eberron: This realm is said to have formed eons ago from the remnants of feuding dragon gods, and from this creation the first dragons were born. Legend says that the realm itself is a riddle that holds the fate of all dragonkind within its solving. Not surprisingly dragons throughout the multiverse have an interest in this realm and its “Dragon Prophecy.”
Ravenloft: This territory is barely a true realm and more like a collection of planar debri. Fragments of other realms have accumulated into a desolate flotilla drifting uncomfortably close to the negative plane. The “Mist” that binds the realm together can also trap travellers inside the realm. Tourists beware.
The Great Beyond
The planes are collectively known as the Great Beyond, and form a vast, nesting sphere. At the heart of the sphere lie the realms of the Material Plane and their twisted reflection, the Shadow Plane, bridged by the mists of the Ethereal Plane. The elemental planes of the Inner Sphere surround this heart. Farther out, beyond the void of the Astral Plane, sits the unimaginably vast Outer Sphere, which is itself surrounded and contained by the innumerable layers of the Abyss.
The planes that make up the Great Beyond are briefly detailed in the “Game Mastery Guide: Planar Adventures” paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/mastery/planarAdventures.html
The Gatehouse: A City within a City
This will be the characters’ base of operations when the game starts. At its most basic description The Gatehouse is a series of inter-planar gateways housed within an underground complex the size of a small city. It is a port of call for refugees, smugglers, businessmen, diplomats and travelers from a thousand worlds.
Despite The Gatehouse’s unsettling abolith styled architecture most travelers find lodging, hold meetings, and conduct their business all within the walls of The Gatehouse without ever setting foot in the surrounding city of Silent Falls. The diversity of The Gatehouse’s transient population makes for a far more cosmopolitan and open minded environment compared to the xenophobic Duerger of greater Silent Falls.
Silent Falls: A Brief History
The city now known as Silent Falls was built upon a foundation that dates back thousands of years before any dwarves ever travelled these caves. Deep within Faerun’s Underdark there was a submerged labyrinth of caverns filled by a subterranean water system. Thousands of years worth of moving water dug river-tunnels and expanded the caverns creating a vast chamber. It is believed that during this time the mysterious aboliths built what is now called The Gatehouse within the submerged cavern. Eventually the water receded leaving an empty honeycomb of tunnels and The Gatehouse behind. Presumably this forced the aboliths to abandon the caverns for deeper waters or perhaps to another plane altogether.
In centuries to come, a hobgoblin empire, the Chu’rcoz, claimed the caverns as their own. The goblinoids feared The Gatehouse and avoided the mantle it rests upon. Instead, the architects of the Chu’rcoz built a vast number of chambers and tunnels into the underground. At some point a catastrophe of unknown origins set upon the city. The population was decimated and the society collapsed. Most survivors fled into other regions of the Underdark and brought with them dark tales of otherworldly terrors.
Thousands of years later when the Duerger settlers explored this region the cavern was stumbled upon and named Silent Falls. They enslaved what goblins still resided in the ruins and erected a fortress within. The Duerger sealed off The Gatehouse and the lower wards of the ancient hobgoblin city as a result of stories told by the goblins they enslaved. Silent Falls prospered and grew into a powerful metropolis once again. Over the course of the next 800 years, Silent Falls’ monuments, towers, and fortresses continued to rise as Droskar, the Duerger's god, calls for endless labor from his followers. Today there is hardly any part of the vast cavern that has not been worked and re-worked by Duerger hands. They have even opened up the old goblin wards to expand the city.
It was 200 years ago when The Gatehouse suddenly came to life and became active. It’s portals opened and contact was made with the multiverse. How the deep dwarves were able to master The Gatehouse is a closely guarded secret known only by the city’s most powerful Duerger. Most outsiders speculate that the Duerger must have had some outside assistance as they have never been known for their arcane abilities. What the Duerger lack in arcane skills and open mindedness they have made up for in pragmatism and shrewd business sense. For the last two centuries they have strengthened their control of the region and have turned Silent Falls into a boom town on the frontier of the entire universe.
Notable Races (the locals)
Duerger: The Duerger are by far the most populous race in Silent Falls and The Gatehouse. Their wizards run The Gatehouse’s daily operations and their soldiers enforce the peace. The Duerger ruling class profit from the planar trading routes as well as the heavy taxes (and bribes) they demand from anyone looking to do business here. However, the common Duerger citizen sees little of this profit. More than a few Duerger have sought to find their own ways in the planar expanse. These Duergers are often from the lowest level of the Duerger caste system. Any Duerger not content to endlessly toil in whatever role they were born to is a pariah in Duerger culture. Some Duerger clergy point to this trend as proof that The Gatehouse is a corrupting influence on Duerger society.
Drow: The dark elves native to Fauren’s underdark are the largest minority present in the city. Drow armies attempted to take the portal for themselves in centuries past but always failed. Eventually the Drow were able to find a foothold not through conquest but through commerce. Ambitious Drow without noble standing or ties to the great Drow city-states have formed a merchant class in Silent Falls. The Drow merchants are accepted by the Duerger as long as they pay their fees, taxes, and bribes while keeping their interests focused on merchant activities.
Goblinoids and Orcs: These creatures have no standing in Duerger society. They are used for slave labor, indentured bodyguards, and war fodder. However, within The Gatehouse some of these races are able to blend in with the cosmopolitan population and scratch out a living. Some more enlightened goblinoids from other planes have even started to openly protest the plight of their imprisoned brethren.
Dwarf (Non-Duerger): The Duerger and the other dwarf races have hated each other as long as their histories have been recorded. From time to time a travelling dwarf attempts to conducts business within the Gatehouse, but their presence so incites Duerger society few think it is worth the risk. Just last week a dwarf was literally torn apart by a mob of concerned Duerger citizens, and his business partner’s property was confiscated as evidence...
The Material Plane: Home Sweet Home
The Realms
Within the Prime Material Plane there are multiple worlds typically referred to as “Realms.” These realms operate under the same basic rules of the universe, but each has their own unique histories and features. Most inhabitants of these realms go about their existences mostly unaware of their sister worlds.
The First World: This realm is believed to be the old gods' first draft of the subsequent planes which would later split into the greater Material Plane and the Shadow Plane. Harder to reach than other Prime Material realms The First World is said to exist somehow “behind” the other planes. Some races found on the Material Plane also have counterparts in the First World. It is widely accepted that gnomes migrated from The First World which explains their unique physiology.
Golgarion: Golarion is believed to be one in a series of ‘second worlds’ created after the gods turned away from The First World. It was also the birthplace and pet project of the recently fallen god Aroden. At the moment of Aroden’s disappearance the entire realm was racked with natural disaster leaving behind the Eye of Abendego (a permanent hurricane) and the World Wound (an open rift to the Abyss.) Sucks for them.
Faerun ‘The Forgotten Realm’: A realm much like Golgarion but with its own seperate rich cultures and history. Faerun’s ‘underdark’ territories are legendary and rival in size even Eberron’s ‘Dragon Below.’ It is in this underdark in which The Gatehouse resides, and our players have made a home for themselves.
Athas ‘The Dark Sun’: Athas was once a blue planet teeming with life much like its sisters realms. Abused, exploited, and mismanaged by its natives Athas has since been stripped of its fertility. A great war corrupted the land and skies even decaying its sun. It is a sun-burnt land forsaken by the gods, water, and hope.
Eberron: This realm is said to have formed eons ago from the remnants of feuding dragon gods, and from this creation the first dragons were born. Legend says that the realm itself is a riddle that holds the fate of all dragonkind within its solving. Not surprisingly dragons throughout the multiverse have an interest in this realm and its “Dragon Prophecy.”
Ravenloft: This territory is barely a true realm and more like a collection of planar debri. Fragments of other realms have accumulated into a desolate flotilla drifting uncomfortably close to the negative plane. The “Mist” that binds the realm together can also trap travellers inside the realm. Tourists beware.
The Great Beyond
The planes are collectively known as the Great Beyond, and form a vast, nesting sphere. At the heart of the sphere lie the realms of the Material Plane and their twisted reflection, the Shadow Plane, bridged by the mists of the Ethereal Plane. The elemental planes of the Inner Sphere surround this heart. Farther out, beyond the void of the Astral Plane, sits the unimaginably vast Outer Sphere, which is itself surrounded and contained by the innumerable layers of the Abyss.
The planes that make up the Great Beyond are briefly detailed in the “Game Mastery Guide: Planar Adventures” paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/mastery/planarAdventures.html
