The World of Via

[AliceTheOwl]

I'll be running a Fantasy Hero game, starting in two weeks, on alternating Sundays with Josh's Valdorian Age campaign. To that end, I've created a world I've named Via, and am having fun building it. Here's an overview of the world:

 

Via has existed for about 5000 years. It's a peaceful world, with a single god and a single monarch. Most people are able to go on with their daily lives without interruption from higher forces.

 

For the first 1000 years of Via's history, there was only peace. Humans, Elves, Fae, Dwarves, Halflings, Dragons and all kinds of fantastical creatures and animals co-existed without interfering much in another's business. Then, an evil wizard tried to take over the Fae Realm in a bid to tap into its power and take over the world. The first hero rose then, to combat the wizard. He stopped the wizard and, in a twenty-year quest, eventually stomped out all of his influence, then killed the wizard, himself. The stories about Aveliel the Brave are many. No child of any race can have grown up in Via without hearing tales of his deeds. It's said that he eventually killed the wizard by summoning a Seraph to defeat him. The Seraph was able to suppress the wizard's magic long enough for Aveliel to run the wizard through with his sword.

 

Since then, there have been thirty heroes in all who've saved the world in some fashion or another. Most have rallied together a group of strong warriors to eliminate the latest threat, or summoned another of the Seraphim to help his or her cause. Each has been descended from Aveliel in some way. For those who, it seems, aren't, it tends to turn out that they're really an illegitimate son or daughter of the bloodline.

 

The King is one by birth, and is ruler over all the land. The firstborn Prince is always the next King, and there have been no disputes amongst family members of lines of inheritance. Lesser politicians are loyal to the King, and live in the Capital.

 

Religion is a major part of most people's lives. There are many different names for the one God, but everyone recognizes they're speaking of the same being. There are some sects which have some different ideas of what God wants of people, but mostly, people can agree that God is righteous, angry when you get his attention, and no living being has ever seen him. There's one sect which believes that they've been put on the world to make more followers by breeding like mad, and another which believes God is really a woman. There are fringe cults based off these sects, but no one believes those have any legitimacy.

 

The God stays out of the affairs of Via. He sometimes sends Seraphim, who mostly deliver messages, though they can be summoned into a church to do God's work. They leave most of the actual work to the followers.

 

The highest of the Seraphim is named Angelique. She's the only female of the Seraphim, and is so beautiful she makes people stop and stare in awe. She's always been the symbol of the kinder, gentler side of God, and has always resolved conflicts peacefully. If a villain has a chance of redemption, she'll appear so that she can cleanse the evil from his soul and make things right.

 

The priesthood itself is more important than the government, in terms of structure. There's a church in almost every town, save the smaller, poorer villages. Children who want to grow up to be a leader go off to join the Seminary, usually around the age of 10 years old. They study for 7 years, and, if they pass the tests after that time, are apprenticed to the church where they'd like to lead someday. Obviously, they can only be apprenticed one at a time, and sometimes an apprentice is assigned to a church. Once they're promoted to High Priest, they're given a generous salary from the church's donations, and expected to report on the progress and goings-on once a year, via messenger.

 

The priesthood is not expected to be chaste or much different from other people at all, except for faith and devotion. Priests are encouraged to marry or sow wild oats, since it tends to increase the worshipping population. It is said that there is much experimentation amongst fifth- and sixth-years in the Seminary, though no priest will discuss details with his (or her) parish. It is understood that the priests are merely human, not divine, so they will behave as human beings do. This opens the priesthood up to shelter some evil priests, and there have been a few. The church does not sanction such behavior, and will drive out such a person when they see him for who he is. However, the populace understands that one bad seed doesn't represent the whole of the Church.

 

Nonhuman races do believe that the God exists, but they don't usually worship him. There have been a number of Orcish converts in the past few centuries, and some of the Dwarves have been talking about building an underground cathedral.

 

The only ones who show no interest in religion at all are those of the Faerie Realm. They've found that their magic doesn't work well inside churches, and so avoid religion and its trappings. Conversely, religious magic doesn't work well inside the inner sanctums of their domains.

 

Magical artifacts are quite rare in Via, because only the Fae can create them. It is thought that they learned the art to make up for the fact that they sometimes needed their magic while inside churches, so they put it outside themselves to be able to carry it along. A non-Fae who wants a magical item fashioned will find the price very high, as the Fae creating it will ask for a favor, to be collected sometime in the future. These favors are often life-threatening or murderous, though sometimes it involves religious rituals the Fae can't perform. In most recent memory, a priest who asked for a candle that would never burn out was asked to summon a Seraph for the Fae in return, so that the Seraph might carry a message back to the God. No one knows what that message contained. The candle is still burning, fifty years later.

 

The major differences between the Fae and humanity are in their breeding habits. The Fae and the other wood-dwellers (Elves, Halflings, etc) are longer-lived, so they don't need to produce many children to survive. They look down on humans' amorous ways, and humans tend to look down on the colder, more serious attitude of the Fae and those who are like-minded. Despite these differences, however, human and Fae get along just fine, and will band together to handle a threat when needed. They don't often intermarry or breed between races.

 

Darker professions like thievery do exist in Via, though they aren't very profitable. In a peaceful land, there isn't a lot for would-be heroes to do, other than track down criminals. Only the very twisted would go into a profession with so much adversity.

 

For would-be heroes, there are many resources available to learn the art of doing good deeds. The Church sponsors an academy to learn fighting, where they train people to guard their priests and churches. The Capital, too, has a school for teaching Royal Guards. Despite the fact that all heroes are from Aveliel's line, people still hope and train to be a hero so that the stories can be told about THEM. Most of the stories tend to involve the hero being in the right place at the right time, so people hope to have such luck, themselves.

 

Prophecy is common in Via, though it tends to come to people in dreams. There appears to be no way to harness the power of prophecy. A person's having a prophetic dream once is no indication that it will happen again. Most information about the future comes from the Seraphim.

 

I'll be rewarding players with XP for providing material for me to work with, and Josh has already written part of the story of one of the 30 heroes. I've asked him to post it here.

[Page Fault]

Re: The World of Via

 

I have a few thoughts.

 

On the Fae, since they're another obvious power, might some humans worship them in some way shape or form? With obvious displays of godly might, perhaps not, but it is something to consider.

 

If the world is peaceful, what are the characters to do? Are they hero wannabees, or all descended from Aveliel somehow? I presume some kind of crisis will occur for them to handle. Or does the campaign focus on less world-threatening threats, such as inter-family disputes and politics?

 

Are Fae available as a character race, out of curiosity, or are they more "fantastical" and not bound by physical law?

 

I'm working on my own campaign at the moment, which I hope to post here soon, so I'm naturally a bit curious.

[AliceTheOwl]

Re: The World of Via

 

Heh. There's actually a bit more backstory that explains some of the seeming inconsistencies, so I'll be pretty undefensive about perceived criticism.

 

No, people don't worship the Fae. The Fae aren't terribly useful to anyone other than themselves, so the idea of worshipping the Fae is about as silly to most resident of Via as worshipping inanimate objects (which they also don't do).

 

The party will have an adventure that wasn't fated to happen drop into their laps. None of them are descended from the first hero.

 

The Fae are available as a character race, but so far, nobody's chosen to run one. I have a human priest, a human fighter/mage (she'll enhance her fighting with spells), and most likely some kind of nonmagical fighter. The Fae are bound by physical laws, though they tend to rely on magic more than strength or smarts.

[L. Marcus]

Re: The World of Via

 

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to AliceTheOwl again.

. . . Grrmmbll, grrmmbll . . .

[Page Fault]

Re: The World of Via

 

I didn't mean for it to sound like criticism, I assumed you'd done more work than what was listed I'm at work now or I'd say more, but look forward to seeing what else you have.

[AliceTheOwl]

Re: The World of Via

 

Well, obviously, there's more to Aveliel's story. I figure that's a good start for me.

 

And, y'know, the actual world building part. I figure I'll borrow Josh's map generation software and start making up names before the game begins.

 

I didn't take it as criticism, but normally I'm much more sensitive about questions about MY creations. So I'm glad I decided to go with the idea I have for this world.

 

Josh actually wrote a piece about why dragons are relatively tame and nonthreatening in this world which I found quite helpful. I'm letting him post it to get the credit, though. ^ v ^

[Super Squirrel]

Re: The World of Via

 

As Alice stated, I wrote a brief about one of the heroes. The perspective is told through that of a dragon.

 

http://alicetheowl.googlepages.com/fathervalstan

[AliceTheOwl]

Re: The World of Via

 

A couple more details:

 

When people die in Via, most of them are cremated, and their loved ones keep a small portion of the ashes. There are no graveyards, and necromancy is quite rare. Most people keep the ashes in a vial to contribute to a "family tree" in their home, which is a large, ornamental space, usually taking up a wall. It traces a family's ancestry.

 

Geneaology is a very common hobby amongst the residents of Via. Mostly, it's so that they can find out if they're likely to be related to the first hero, Aveliel. Since he had twenty children with three different women, there are many who are related to him without knowing it.

 

One major city in Via was founded by and named after Aveliel. It's become a major trading outpost with the dwarves and orcs, and contains a school for learning combat, called the Academy. There, people can learn the Aveliel School of Swordfighting, which is direct and deadly. This is a stark contrast from the Academy of the Royal Guard (located in the capital city), which focuses on defensive technique, long-term strategy and learning to use a number of different weapons effectively.

[AliceTheOwl]

Re: The World of Via

 

Josh figured out something pretty close to what I had going on with Via, so, in the interest of fairness, I'm making that information available to all my players.

 

I trust they can keep metagame info out-of-character.

 

In the Champions Universe, there exists a middle-aged writer named John Williams. In college, he wrote a fantasy story about a hero named Aveliel, and built the world of Via around his heroic deeds. What Williams doesn't realize is that he has a super power, and only one. Everything he writes becomes truth. So, as he wrote the story, the world of Via came into being, gradually shaping itself to fit his concept of it.

 

The problem is, Williams (who writes under a pen name) isn't terribly talented. In fact, he's a bit of a hack.

 

Still, despite the terrible reviews, his story appealed to a lot of different readers, and he wrote several sequels. When these started hitting bestsellers lists, he wrote more and more, until Aveliel's story filled ten books. Then, he wrote a sequel series, about the children of Aveliel. The fifth book flopped, and the critics tore it to pieces. Crushed, Williams signed an agreement with his publishers that he'd have editorial control over anything written about Via, but that future stories would be ghostwritten.

 

Because he retains editorial control, this falls under the domain of his power. So the ghostwritten stories, too, have been integrated into the world of Via. But because they're ghostwritten, they have a tendency to fall into even worse cliches than the original novels, and they step on and contradict one another.

 

Williams' power is a self-preserving one, though. Williams doesn't realize he has the power, and never will. When he wrote a story in high school about a beautiful transfer student moving to town and falling in love with him, he promptly forgot he wrote the story. When it happened exactly as he wrote it, he had no idea he'd brought about these events. He later stumbled across the story, and figured he'd written it down as it happened.

 

Via, meanwhile, has become its own entity, separate from Williams' influence. Every once in a while, a Vian Seraph will find out the nature of the world and go babblingly insane, but they're rare, and the residents of Via have dealt with them fairly well.

 

The idea behind this as a roleplaying setting is that, the only characters Williams controls are those he writes about. The PCs are outside his influence, and therefore are free to exercise free will. And they'll need to, because Williams' life hasn't been going too well lately. His wife (the aforementioned transfer student) has left him, his son hates him, and he's been expecting his royalty checks to be higher than they are, so he's living outside his means. Then one night, he gets blind drunk. When he wakes up, there's a first chapter of a new book on his computer. He doesn't remember writing it, but it's brilliant. It has everything his stories have lacked before: action right off the bat, intrigue, and well-fleshed-out and interesting characters.

 

Williams will be observing the events of the game, which will be writing themselves as they play out. He will not be interfering with the events of the game, because he'll be too grateful to have this story writing itself to sit down and write anything, himself. Plus, he doesn't even realize his influence over the world.

[L. Marcus]

Re: The World of Via

 

. . . Hah! That's great!

[AliceTheOwl]

Re: The World of Via

 

Thanks. ^ v ^

 

A little more, on the people you'll find in Via:

 

Priests in Via generally go off to the Seminary at Romennor at the age of ten, and stay there for seven years. Once they've passed the basic tests, they're apprenticed to one of the churches, where they study until the old priest there retires. They're then promoted to High Priest.

 

There are two levels above High Priest, and are levels of promotion within the school and governing of the church. There is no single person at the top, save their god.

 

Priests are expected to behave not as models of good behavior, but as they normally would. Those who prove themselves corrupt are driven from their positions, but those with normal vices are allowed and encouraged to stay where they are. Nonetheless, the priesthood is generally respected amongst the populace.

 

Priests can be male or female.

 

There are two types of Knights: Knights of the Realm, and Knights of the Holy Order. Knights of the Realm are trained in the capital city of Asini. Most then stay in the city to protect the King, though some are assigned to outposts in need of protection.

 

Knights of the Holy Order are trained in Romennor, the holy city, in a separate school than the Seminary. Some are trained at Aveliel and later accepted into the Holy Order. They train for three to ten years (depending on natural talent), and are then assigned a church to protect. It is their job to assure that no harm comes to the priests or the followers. They are expected to take an oath of loyalty where they swear to uphold the honor and dignity of the Church, and where they swear loyalty to the god, and none other. Knights are expected to show more restraint of character than the priests, and are thrown from the Order, should they use their strength and training for corrupt purposes.

 

Knights can be male or female.

 

Bards in Via are highly respected, almost as much as the priesthood, and rightly so. All bards write an oath, in blood, swearing to never lie, never harm one who means no harm, and to uphold the values they sing so highly of. They wander collecting stories and repeating the old ones, and all bards are very familiar with the tales of Aveliel. They are the most trustworthy of any people in Via.

 

Most bards supplement their income by carrying messages, at a price of a silver for each town they must pass through. This is so that the message can be given to another bard, should the original carrier not be headed to the city the message is meant for. The bard simply hands the message and the remaining silver to the new carrier of the message. They can be trusted to never read a message placed in their care, and to assure the message arrives no matter the intent of the letter-writer. This sometimes has them interacting with shady people and aiding in evil dealings, but they are considered innocent of any wrongdoing. For, though they will never read the contents of the messages, they will report to whoever asks who they're carrying messages for, and where the messages are going.

 

Despite their profession which has them forever roaming alone, bards are rarely without company. Women are drawn to the male bards, who are usually sensitive, sincere and rugged, and men are drawn to women bards because of their fierce independence and the chance for the small adventure of accompanying them to the next town or city.

 

Those who would harm a bard are few and far-between, since even evildoers realize that a bard would never do them harm, and are rarely carrying much of any value. Also, everyone recognizes the value of a messenger who holds his duties as sacred.

 

The Fae and elves often live intermingled, though they're not the same. The Fae are flighty, selfish, and wholly neutral. They're not given to lying, though they'll sometimes do it just to amuse themselves. They're also not given to loyalty, and will never swear to keep a secret. They will never do something because it's the right thing to do or to repay a favor. They might do something because they feel like it, but usually they will get a payment, often up-front. They will never allow anyone to owe them more than one favor, but will collect on the first favor before debting the second.

 

Fae are long-lived, and no one's sure just how long a Fae lives, since they don't dicsuss their funeral practices with outsiders. They come in all shapes and sizes, though most Fae tend to be smaller than humans.

 

The Fae, mostly, are curious about humans, especially their religious practices.

 

Elves in Via are tall, on average about a foot taller than humans. Their women tend to be taller and stronger then their men. They inhabit forests, but interact regularly with humans. They are disdainful of human breeding habits, though. Since they themselves live to be 1000 or more, they fail to understand the need to breed like rabbits. They don't need to eat or sleep as often as humans, either. Some elves in the north have been experimenting with a vegetarian diet, and have thus far been pleased with the results.

 

Elves don't do anything in a hurry, and laugh at the urgency with which humans conduct their lives. A few have, nonetheless, integrated themselves into civilized human society to become great thinkers and philosophers. There is one elf serving in the Religious Order. Mostly, though, elves stick to the forests.

 

Elves are proficient in many types of weapons and fighting styles, though they prefer to fight unarmed, and are very good at it. Elves find the idea of murder abhorrent.

 

Seraphim are, as the name implies, angels. They exist in a slightly higher plane of existence, where they can be summoned or pass into our realm. They often serve as messengers between churches, and can sometimes be coaxed to do other tasks. They pass into the mortal plane of their own volition only to deliver a message or to carry a decree from the god.

 

Most people outside the priesthood know next to nothing about the Seraphim. Very few have seen them, though those who have assure them they're probably better off for it, as the Seraphim make for a terrifying sight.

 

There are three orders of Seraphim. The lowest are the easiest to call upon, and can't do much more than fly, pass from one realm to the next, pass messages and give some general guidance to a priest in need of it. The second order is far more powerful, and can only be summoned from inside a church. No one knows the true scope of a second-order Seraphim's power, though some believe they could level cities on their own, if they tried. The final order of Seraphim has only one Seraph in it, and the only woman. Her existence is mere rumor outside the Church. She is said to be the one to whom God speaks.

[ghost-angel]

Re: The World of Via

 

That is a truly awesome concept. I'm jealous i don't get to play in it!!

[AliceTheOwl]

Re: The World of Via

 

^ v ^

 

Thanks!

[Super Squirrel]

Re: The World of Via

 

My character, Father Danaecus for Alice's Via game.

 

http://aldaric.org/chars/father.html

[AliceTheOwl]

Re: The World of Via

 

When Via was new, the Fae lived in close conjunction with giants, in the hills and valleys of the world. They protected giants from closedminded humans, who didn't understand that tall and imposing wasn't the same thing as threatening. By the same token, they kept the giants from a cruel world which would exploit their innocence and use their large size for manual labor and enslavement.

 

Over time, Fae and giant intermingled to produce a new race, that of elves. Elves proved to have the Fae cunning and talent for magic, but the giant's size and gentle strength. They also proved to be quite capable of reproducing amongst one another, and soon were more numerous than the giants.

 

Since the beginning of elves, giants have hidden themselves away further. The Fae, having elves to entertain them now, grew tired of watching over giants, and so they stopped. There are no stories of giants, since they have stayed hidden away, far from human eyes, since before the stories began.

 

Despite their humble origins, elves carry themselves with nobility and dignity, and hold their pride as very important. There is nothing more insulting to an elf than to claim they've behaved in a way that's less than dignified and proper.

 

Elves live in a matriarchal monarchy. Each settlement is ruled by a Queen, who answers only to the Head Queen of the Elves. The youngest daughter is always the one to inherit the throne.

 

Having inherited the timidity of their large ancestors, most elves have taken a vow not to kill. They prefer fighting with their bare hands rather than with weapons, to reduce the likelihood that they'll murder a person. Their spells are rarely deadly, though often painful.

 

Despite their reputation, however, not all elves live up to the belief that they can do no wrong. Elves have as much potential for evil or selfishness as humans, though, for some reason, fewer of them are corruptible than human beings. This seems to trace from the fact that there are also fewer elves in number than humans. They do not brag about this fact and, for the most part, are maddeningly polite to any humans they speak with. They will bend over backwards to accommodate a guest, and find it most upsetting when they cannot please someone under their hospitality.

 

The reason why elves don't mix with humans is more logistical than due to any snobbery on their part. Human ceilings tend to be no higher than seven feet, and most elves stand at that height, or higher. Human furniture is too small for elves, as well, and doorways prove painful for elven foreheads. Many human castles are built with high ceilings, so they are comfortable enough in such buildings, but the average town in Via leaves most elves feeling alienated and unwelcome.

 

In addition, the breeding between human and elf produces, more often than offspring, a disease that elves call The Wasting. It affects only the elf in the pairing, and in its earliest stages leads to infertlity. It then spreads to the other organs, where it breaks them down at a human rate of aging. Most elves die within a decade of contracting The Wasting. Meanwhile, however, it is quite painful and debilitating. Several elves have lived out their entire millenium of life carrying the disease. Elves don't believe in suicide, so they can only wait until the disease takes them, and suffer in pain until it does.

 

The Church, sadly, has turned its back on The Wasting, calling it "the wages of sin" for elves taking advantage of humans. It has forbidden its priests to waste any time researching a cure.

 

Therefore, most elves will avoid an attempt to breed with a human at all costs. Though the chances are low of contracting The Wasting (1 in 1000), most agree that the risk is still too great.

 

Due to their long life spans, elves also have a very long memory. It is elves who have careful documentation of history, from the beginning. It is also understood that it is elves who remember heroes. Though it is the jobs of bards to carry the stories, they refresh their memories by visiting the elves, and write new stories about old heroes by asking the elves for further details. Most people fail to understand this significance, until they see the careful reverence with which a bard treats an elf.

 

There is a story of Aveliel, where he was chasing the evil wizard's minions. He and his companions were attacked by a hunting party of elves, who mistook him for being associated with the warring party who'd cut a swath through the center of their settlement. When they realized their mistake, they put themselves at his mercy, begging forgiveness. Aveliel waved off their apologies, then bowed low and said to the Queen that it was he who must apologize, for failing to stop the wizard's minions before they harmed her subjects, and for failing to identify himself before entering her terrirory. So impressed was she with his eloquence that she gave him a battalion of elven archers at his disposal. With their help, he was able to corner the wizard's minions. Most were captured, and he questioned the wizard's right-hand man until he got the information he sought, which was the wizard's whereabouts.

 

While most people speak of Aveliel as arrogant, stupid and foolhardy, they all grudgingly admit that he had learned from his mistakes by the time he got to the elves. Because of his behavior towards the elves, they forgive him his many faults.

 

Consequently, several heroes since have made it a quest to seek the elves and gain their blessing and goodwill, that they might also be remembered as people with their faults, but still a hero nonetheless. The heroes who have treated elves with scorn and contempt have found their stories fading with time, and eventually forgotten, except by the most skilled of bards.

[Thag13]

Re: The World of Via

 

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!! :)

 

I cant wait to play!!!!!!!

[AliceTheOwl]

Re: The World of Via

 

^ v ^

 

Glad to hear it.

[AliceTheOwl]

Re: The World of Via

 

Eriden - The Bard's City

 

Depending on who you ask, Eriden is either a small city or a large town. Set between a small range of mountains to the northeast of the continent, it is accessible only through a mountain pass barely wide enough for small wagons to squeeze through. The mountains are what keep the city shielded from the elements and rocs, giant carnivorous birds which inhabit the mountain range and plains surrounding the area.

 

Eriden was settled in the year 1038 by Milio, famously known as the first bard of Via and the man who established the bardic arts and customs. He was looking for an out-of-the-way spot where he could store his writings, write new songs and train new bards without disturbance from those seeking his songs and stories. He established a school in 1041, and a library in 1045, which is still being filled to this day with histories and songs of Via.

 

The only people who visit Eriden are those who seek bardic knowledge for themselves. Most of the revenue in the city comes from the school itself, as the valley is only just big enough to provide its population with its daily needs.

 

Though people who choose to pursue the bardic path are known for being gentle, kind and polite, the people of the valley have established their own style of defense. For the rare moments when the library is raided for archaic knowledge, or a roc somehow gets into the valley, the people are prepared, and have managed to defend themselves without casualties. Children are taught from an early age not to stray far from sight. Their tendency to cluster together for defense has earned the residents the nickname of "Eriden's Sheep". However, none would deny the effectiveness of this tactic.

 

Any attempting to find Eriden without a guide who knew the entrance to the pass would find it difficult, as the pass is unmarked, and only looks like a pass once one steps into it. Though there have been several offers to widen the pass to increase traffic, the people prefer their privacy. It is not that they dislike visitors; they simply value the peace and quiet they find in the valley.

 

The closest settlement to Eriden is a small fae settlement, 10 days' travel by horse to the west.

[SteelDoom]

Re: The World of Via

 

Great setting and I like the Author/God angle too. Reminds me of a book I read ages ago called The God Game or something similar. Good stuff!

[AliceTheOwl]

Re: The World of Via

 

Heh. I certainly wouldn't argue the setting is totally unique; it's not meant to be. I love that I get to introduce elements of fantasy cliches, then turn them on their heads. Elves are standoffish and keep to themselves, but not because they believe they're better; they're too tall to fit into standard human buildings, and the laws protect them better if they stay home. The king is a chauvinist pig, despite the fact that the most recent hero was a woman, and the up-and-coming hero is also female. I introduced a vampire last game who tossed all the cliches right out the window, and the players LOVED it.

 

So the flexibility and underlying sense of "nothing's sacred" is suiting me quite nicely.

 

Glad you like. ^ v ^

[AliceTheOwl]

Re: The World of Via

 

One of the best-known stories in the Vian mythos is that of Aveliel and Lianna. Aveliel's story starts with his hometown being flattened by the evil wizard he's fated to one day defeat, and he loses his lady love. He vows over her grave to never love another, joins the only other survivor from his village, and sets out to find the person responsible for the destruction. (Later stories establish that she actually survived the disaster as well, went by boat to an uncle's home on the other side of the continent, and gave birth to twins. She later married someone else, never realizing Aveliel was still alive.)

 

After some traveling and gathering of others who wanted to stop the wizard, Aveliel and his party met Lianna, a headstrong farm girl whose mother died in childbirth. An only child, her father never remarried, and took care of raising her himself. He raised her to discard romantic ideals and hold a no-nonsense view toward the world. Her father was killed by the wizard, spotted him while he was trying to pass through the town undetected. She vowed revenge, and, amidst Aveliel's protests, joined their cause.

 

She couldn't fight much at first, but she proved a fast learner. She also proved to have a great understanding on battle tactics. Despite this, Aveliel was always trying to talk her into staying behind. Consequently, they bickered. The songs and stories downplay just how fiercely they bickered and verbally sparred, and how many weeks at a stretch they'd go without speaking to one another, but it was obvious to no one from the start that they were meant for each other. Party members started a betting pool on which would kill the other, and how and when.

 

They would, however, set aside their differences long enough to work together in a fight, and proved willing to work together for the greater good and the common cause. Some say that was their undoing. Others say it was far simpler than that.

 

One morning, after a night of celebration, drinking and dancing, they woke up in bed together. Both were horrified, and claimed not to remember a thing. A month later, Lianna realized, with even greater horror, that she was pregnant.

 

She hid it as long as she could, knowing what Aveliel would say when he found out. But she could only hide it for so long, and was found out. He already knew the fight he'd be in for if he confronted her about it, so he didn't. Instead, he quietly conspired to leave her behind at the next town.

 

And he succeeded, mostly because by then her condition had slowed her down, and she was tired. The kind, childless couple she'd been left with took good care of her, so good that she almost felt bad when she left them with her newborn son and stole their horse to catch back up with Aveliel. She vowed to return for her child, and even left a note promising to pay them back someday.

 

Obviously, this event did nothing to improve their relationship. Once she caught up, she yelled at Aveliel until her voice gave out. Once she stopped yelling, though, she could see how much it pained him to leave her behind, and that he'd truly been worried for her safety. Placated, she took his hand and joined him in his tent.

 

But the following morning, they were back to bickering like bitter rivals. Thus developed a pattern, where they would bicker and argue, fall into bed together, bicker and argue some more, sometimes punctuated with arguments about what to do about her latest pregnancy. Luckily, they found no shortage of childless farmers willing to take in a foundling (or two, the times she gave birth to twins), with the promise that they'd be repaid for their troubles.

 

Then finally, after years of pursuing the evil wizard, the party came up with a plan. They found a ritual for summoning a Seraph, one of the powerful servants of God, and binding it to do their bidding. But the wizard caught wind of what they were doing, and sent his strongest warriors to thwart them, and supervised their operations, himself. They were halfway through the ritual when the assassins arrived, and those who could continued the ritual while the strongest of them fought off the wizard's fighters.

 

At the very climax of the ritual, the wizard, seeing Lianna at the center of the ritual, threw his strongest spell at her, turning her insides to liquid, and he vanished. With the last of her strength, she shouted the last word of the ritual, and fell to the ground. Aveliel rushed to her side, and only he heard what she whispered to him. But everyone heard his declaration of his love for her, everyone saw her smile, and everyone read the words, "I know" on her lips before she died in his arms.

 

Of course the Seraph bound to Aveliel's will arrived just a second too late to save her. But it was in Lianna's name that Aveliel's stormed the wizard's keep and slayed any who stood in his way. The last words the wizard heard were, "You killed Lianna, the woman I loved. This is for her."

 

Anyone telling the story ends it there, though Aveliel did go on to fulfill his promise and collect Lianna's children. In the last town he went to, he met a young woman who'd been hired on at the farm where his son was, and who'd been taking care of him. She couldn't stand to be away from the charming little boy, and was instantly enamoured of the brave warrior with the heartbreaking story. She told him she knew she'd never live up to Lianna, but that he'd need her to take care of his children. He agreed that it was a good arrangement and, over time, did grow to care for her. Enough for her to have several children of her own, anyway.

 

(Yes, it's supposed to be cliche and way sappier than anything I'd normally write.)

[AliceTheOwl]

Re: The World of Via

 

More stuff on races:

 

Other than Seraphim, dragons are the oldest race in Via, and just as long-lived as Seraphim. About 80% of the dragons living in Via have lived there since the beginning, though none of them will talk about what the world was like then.

 

Dragons are neither benevolent nor malevolent, in general. They keep to themselves, and their motives are mostly selfish. They adhere to the philosophy, "The greatest good for the greatest number", and will never do harm for harm's sake.

 

For a few thousand years, no one even realized dragons could speak, or were anything more than big, dumb, hoarding beasts. But Father Valstan changed that, when he sought a peace between dragons and the church. It took more than his entire lifetime, but a truce was reached, and most priests now speak Draconic. Many dragons, in turn, have learned the common tongue.

 

It seems that dragons don't like the taste of human, since they rarely eat (or even pay attention to) people. They prefer livestock. They've been known to consume entire flocks of sheep in passing, though generally a stock of 100 cattle can replenish quickly enough to feed them their entire lives.

 

There are many stories about dragons, over half of which are untrue. Because of their lone natures, they inspire more mythology than truth. It is true that dragons have even more of a magical nature than the Fae, and true that they don't even have to recite spells to make magic work. It's also true that they grow larger with age, and that they like to hoard treasure, though it's anyone's guess what use they have for gold and jewels.

 

It's also true that, before Father Valstan came along, they would often kidnap pretty maidens from their villages (and, in fact, that female dragons have been known to kidnap handsome youths). The Kings of old were always willing to ransom back these kidnapped subjects, and they would be returned, apparently unharmed and refusing to speak of their time in the dragon's lair. Each claimed to remember nothing past being snatched up in the dragon's claws. (Dragons do, in fact, have the ability to selectively wipe a person's memories, and enhance this ability by feeding the human herbs that induce a delirium state.)

 

What isn't known among the general public is that dragons are capable of changing their forms. Most have a "preferred" form they use to pass for a human, though they are capable of shifting so that they could pass for the twin of another human. They can choose any shape they like, though they prefer the intimidation and armor behind their true forms. But, from time to time, boredom leads them to wanting to seduce a human. They regard it as something of a game.

 

The truce, however, overrides this urge. Some will still attempt this game, but never by kidnapping, always by taking it into the humans' territory. Such pairings only result in offspring should the dragon will it. In fact, they are compatible with all humanoid creatures in Via.

 

While most dragons prefer to stick to one spot and hoard their gold, several dragons (three times as many as are known in Via) like to wander in human form. On a world such as Via, no one questions the lone traveler, and dragons are amused at the warmth with which they are received. Some even blend into Fae society, accepted as nothing more than a very powerful one of their kind.

 

(Dragons are not a playable race in my Via campaign.)

 

Drakes are the offspring of a dragon and human pairing. They are born with leathery wings and shimmering, semi-translucent skin. Because of their demonic appearance, the Church has declared them to be unnatural abominations, and advocates that they be exiled.

 

Drakes are long-lived, and generally outlive elves by a few centuries. They are also innately magical, though spells don't come quite as easily as to their draconic parents. Once an adolescent, they gain the ability to shapeshift, but can only take three different forms. The first is their true form, that of the winged human with a strange pallor to their skin. The second is a draconic form, though they're about a tenth the size of a full-grown dragon. The third is a human form, which gives no indication that they're anything but a normal person. Some have pointed ears in their human form. Each form contains its own powers and drawbacks, and the "safest" form is their true form, in which they can communicate, cast spells, fly and protect themselves. (Their oddly-colored skin is a single layer of dragon scales, harder than a normal dragon's and translucent, which gives them enough armor to guard against most normal attacks.)

 

Drakes, whether through self-exile or being thrown from their communities for their status as an abomination, tend to be solitary. Those who can fully pass for human tend to wander the world under their human guise. Some have found some success as bards, for the voice of a Drake is far sweeter than that of a human.

 

However, Drakes cannot breed with humans nor dragons, only other Drakes. Quite often, though, they project the hatred their own community or parents felt for them onto any other Drakes they meet. For this reason, Drakes rarely get along with one another.

 

Several Drakes, however, react to the shunning with anger, and seek revenge for being denied personhood. One Drake managed to unite several races under his cause, and nearly murdered the Head Priest of the Council at Romennor before being defeated by that generation's hero. However, nothing in the years since has been done to prevent another such attempt, or to prevent Drakes from growing up bitter and angry.

 

(Drakes are not available to play in my Via campaign.)

 

Both dragons and Drakes are vulnerable to holy magic to an extent, as well as to weapons designed to pierce their scales. Normal blades have next to no effect, but armor piercing weapons do 2x BODY.

[AliceTheOwl]

Re: The World of Via

 

Demons

 

In Via, there are three planes of existence. The first is the Vian Plane, where humans go about their lives. The second is the Heavenly Plane, where Seraphim live, and where the Doorway to God exists. The third, beyond the Heavenly Realm, is the Fae Plane. This is where demons come from.

 

Because of the Heavenly Realm's position between the worlds, most beings are barred from passing from the Fae Plane to the Vian Plane. It takes a tremendous amount of energy to pass through the worlds in the first place, so passing through two such barriers is next to impossible. There are places where the barriers are weaker or where the Vian and Fae planes meet up; these are known as fae settlements, though no one knows why fae magic has such a stronger presence in such places.

 

Demons are everything Seraphim are not. They're evil, greedy, violent, and bent on the destruction of humankind. They heavily employ fae magic, and are the only creatures who can use it without hindrance inside a church.

 

That is, assuming they can get to the Vian plane. Luckily, there are magics binding them to their home plane, which can only be broken by the recitation of a certain spell from the Vian Plane. Unfortunately, this spell does not control the demon, and the summoning of a demon often proves as deadly to the caster as it is to the rest of the countryside where it then rampages.

 

Most citizens of Via are unaware that demons even exist. The Church speaks of them from time to time, but no one alive in the Church has ever seen one. The only reason anyone might believe the Church's stories about them are if they've heard an old, old bardic tale of a hero who slayed a demon and sacrificed himself in the process.

 

Demons are not easily harmed, as most fae magic is absorbed by them. Priestly spells are doubly effective, but an injured demon is also an enraged and murderous demon (more so than usual, anyway). Cold steel or priest-blessed weapons can also harm them, if these weapons can cut through the demon's thick hide.*

 

Demons are long-lived, but not immortal. They can live to be 2000 years old, though most are killed by their younger counterparts before they live to be 1000. Any demon who lives past that age has done so through cunning and great strength, so he is a creature to be reckoned with.

 

*For the sake of the game, their armor isn't Hardened, so Armor Piercing is effective. Also for the sake of the game, arrowheads count as cold steel.

[AliceTheOwl]

Re: The World of Via

 

My players are absolutely FORBIDDEN to click this spoiler button. It contains spoilers about the upcoming plot.

 

 

The Origin of Piercylwin

 

Piercylwin was born in the church in Miritria in the year 838. However, his name was not Piercylwin then; it was Ralant.

 

He grew quickly, reaching full maturity by his seventh birthday. Sometimes prone to fits of anxiety or rage, he was otherwise a bright, intelligent boy, who learned new things quickly. The priests who'd raised him were able to teach him some priestly magics, and he proved quite skilled.

 

Then, on his seventh birthday, the Head Priest decided it was time Ralant meet his real mother. She was kept in a cloister at the back of the church, since she was quite mad, and had never spoken a word.

 

When Ralant stepped into the room, she began screaming and ranting and shouting at him that he was evil. He fled to his own room and locked himself in, terrified. Though he appeared to be an adult, Ralant was still a child in some ways, and was heartbroken that his real mother would hate him.

 

It was then that the origin of Ralant's birth was learned. When she calmed down enough to speak, Ralant's mother told the priests that she'd been brutally raped by a demon (and the injuries she'd had when she arrived at the church backed up her story).

 

Upon realizing what the boy was, the priests agreed, only the High Priest dissenting, that Ralant should be exiled from their church, for sharing demon blood. The High Priest protested this decision, and was overthrown from his position, to also be exiled.

 

And so he and Ralant set out from the church in exile. The High Priest intended to go to the High Church of Romennor to report on these happenings. Sadly, he was unaccustomed to travel, and died of exposure before he reached the Holy City. But not before he'd told his adopted son of Ralant's demonic father.

 

After cremating his mentor and father figure, Ralant wandered for some time, sometimes joining city street gangs or bands of bandits which were quite prevalent in that day and age in Via. Then one day, his band attacked a wizard, whose name was Pearce, and who repelled them with a few spells. Never having lost his fascination for magic, Ralant surrendered to the magician and begged him to teach him how to work such magic. Pearce took him in as an apprentice, despite Ralant's age. He was shocked to learn later that Ralant was only twelve years old, for he appeared to be twice that age.

 

Pearce was a crafter of musical instruments as well as a wizard (for their was more money in selling musical instruments than in the working of magic), and he taught Ralant both crafts. During the evenings, when Pearce had retired for the evening, Ralant would work on combing the two arts. His knowledge of priestly magics wound up aiding him, and he wove all three elements together to create a whole new way of casting magic. It tapped into the vein of Fae magic, but relied on an object, the way priestly magic did. When he showed Pearce, his master was most pleased, and asked him to come to the nearby city to show his potential customers how to do such a thing.

 

In just a few months, Ralant had gained much of his master's trust, and Pearce decided to show him something he'd found. It was a dragon's egg, which he'd happened upon during a voyage before he'd met Ralant. So fascinated was he in the egg's smooth, shiny surface, Ralant stayed by the egg's side every moment he wasn't learning his craft. It was no surprise that he was there when it hatched, yielding a beautiful black dragon. She bonded to him instantly, and he grew quite fond of the clingy little fire-breather.

 

The closeness between the dragon and Ralant made Pearce jealous, but he didn't dare let his apprentice know of his feelings. He only grew stricter on the lessons, leaving less time for the two to spend together. However, it also meant that Ralant learned all the faster, until he'd surpassed his master. Pearce flew into a rage that day, culminating in a threat to cut the dragon to pieces. This sparked a rage of Ralant's own, and he came to his senses with his mentor's blood on his hands. The dragon was cowering in the basement, terrified.

 

Ralant saw to his teacher's cremation, then, telling the dragon to stay put, he grabbed a single pack's worth of clothes, a week's worth of food, and headed back to the only other home he'd known.

 

The acolyte at the door had never met Ralant, so he let him in unquestioningly. Ralant headed straight to his mother, who was once again rendered ranting and raving by her son's presence. He demanded of her the name of the demon who'd done this to her, to both of them. She finally shouted it at him, then collapsed.

 

She died the following morning. Ralant was already headed back to Pearce's castle-like home by then.

 

He spent the next several years deep in study, putting together pieces Pearce had never thought to look into. When he was done, the dragon was hiding in the basement full-time, to avoid his frustrated rantings, and he'd assembled a spell to find Cylwin, his demonic father.

 

The details of the fight are unimportant. In the end, it was the dragon's intervention that turned the tide and allowed Ralant to strike a killing blow. But that also broke the magics that summoned the demon to his world, and he was pulled into the realm of demons, also known at the Fae Plane.

 

The story might have ended there, but for a fortuitous intervention. The High Seraphim, Angelique, went to investigate the new presence she found in her realm (for it was also where she made her home), and encountered the young man, still panting for breath and spattered with blood, standing over the body of his father. Had anyone else found him, he might have fought that person to his last breath. But Angelique's power was that of peace. One glance at her, and Ralant felt calm for the first time since Pearce had threatened to harm his beloved dragon. And as the adrenalin left his bloodstream, Ralant passed out from his injuries.

 

Angelique tended to his wounds until he woke. He was too awed to speak to her; she had to break the silence by asking him, "What now?" For she'd seen into his mind, and knew his mission was completed.

 

He pondered the question, then said he didn't know. She pointed out that the demon he'd slain had to have been called into his world, which elicited a sheepish nod from him. She shook her head, and clarified that, the first time he'd entered the Vian Plane, someone had to have called him.

 

Ralant asked her if she could help him find that person, and she shook her head. "I'm supposed to be an agent of peace; I can't very well go ferrying you off to kill someone," she said.

 

Ralant agreed that was reasonable, and asked if she could do something to return him to his world. To this she merely smiled and said that, if he had the power to find his way here, he could find his way back.

 

It took him nearly a year of trying variants of the spell he'd used to call the demon Cylwin, but Ralant finally managed to return to his world. The dragon was overjoyed to find him alive. He told her to stay there, and await his return, then set out once more. This time, he went in search of the wizard who could summon demons. He changed his name, taking half from his father and the other from the other man he'd killed, lest the wizard know him by name.

 

It took him several years of searching, and he found the man on an unnamed island, populated mostly by dwarfs, to the east of the main continent. He made a pretense of wishing to learn magic from the wizard, and, as with all of the other wizards he'd met before, the wizard invited him in.

 

Piercylwin (for now he was so called) took his time verifying that this was, indeed, the same wizard who'd visited such horrors on himself and his mother. He found quickly that the wizard traded in darker magics than any he'd met before. Many of his spells required a pinch of burnt flesh, and he was working on one spell to speak with those who'd passed on. This wasn't enough to convince him, though; he wasn't convinced until he found the spell for summoning a demon (not nearly as neat and tidy as his own — this merely summoned a random demon from the Fae Plane), and then the journal which described his first "experiment".

 

Piercylwin then crafted a spell which would turn a person's insides to liquid, to give the wizard as painful a death as possible. It worked a little too well when he finally cast it, and he never got to tell the man responsible for such suffering of what he'd inflicted on him.

 

With this murder done, Piercylwin forgot everything but magic, and began crafting more and more powerful spells. He expanded on his predecessor's work, eventually learning not just to converse with the dead but also animating dead matter (but only for short periods of time). He also perfected his earthquake spell, the experiment of which is what eventually caught Aveliel's interest in his experiments.

 

Sometime during the twenty years when Aveliel pursued him, Piercylwin visited the Fae Realm to escape for some time and to regroup. Once again, Angelique's presence calmed him. He asked her why she didn't kill him, if peace interested her. She replied, "Everyone in Via has his purpose. Even you. Arguably, especially you. It's your actions which will inspire the first hero in Via, and Via needs heroes."

 

Refreshed and reassured by her words, Piercylwin returned to his home. Setting eyes on the dragon for the first time in 150 years, he realized only then how long he'd been away from her, and apologized profusely for leaving her behind. By that time, she was too big to get out the cellar door. So he worked on creating a network of tunnels and a chamber for her, so that she might leave him if she wished. She reassured him that she would never leave him, then showed him how she cared about him, after shifting her form into that of a beautiful woman.

 

And so Piercylwin began planning for the contingency that he might leave her again, and in so doing, assuring his own immortality.

 

To this day in Via, Piercylwin continues to operate under the belief that the world needs him as much as it needs heroes. He is careful to avoid direct confrontations with heroes, and often seeks to improve the world directly. However, ho matter how often he changes to a new, youthful body, he is unable to shake his half-demon nature. He's still at the mercy of his anger and rage at times, though he's gotten quite good at recognizing when these fits are coming on and shutting himself away so he doesn't scare anyone. But he always has an odd notion of the value of human life, and believes sacrifices are a necessary part of his existence.

 

[TheQuestionMan]

Re: The World of Via

 

Wow brilliant work AliceTheOwl.

 

 

 

 

QM