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Re: [DIY] DF Setting Information

The Seekers

This is an order of philosopher monks who study and strengthen a force which all living beings carry within them - or so they say. The Seekers of the Inner Sun, which is their official name, were founded by a nameless northman known today only as the First Teacher. According to their oldest texts the First Teacher was born in the far northwest, on the coast of the Everwinter Sea, where he grew up to be an illiterate barbarian. However, he traveled south where he received many injuries while he worked as a bodyguard and mercenary. Somehow he learned to read and write and began to study natural philosophy and medicine - many historians claim that this was due to a long resting time, forced upon him by a severe injury. Later he began to travel all over the world, finally ending his journey at the World Tree where he meditated, trained, and wrote for seven years.
When he returned he posessed incredibly powers which he used to combat evil and, eventually, to found a monastery deep in the loneliness of the northern tundra, where he taught his wisdom to 40 worthy pupils.
Today the legendary first monastery is deemed lost, but there are dozens of younger monasteries strewn across the lands this side of the Sea of Dust.

Some sages claim that the arts of the Seekers bear an uncanny resemblance to certain powers travelers to the lands beyond the Sea of Dust have reported about - but the Seekers themselves, and some other sages, only reply that their abilities were first found in the voice of the World Tree, not in the religious teachings of some so-called prophet...

Re: [DIY] DF Setting Information

Citadel Of Paralon

This is an outpost of paladins in the Aldeiron Mountains. The legend of this outpost starts with the founder, a shepherd named Yahseph. He lived in the time of the Great Demon Wars. This was a time after the age of the Sakyss where mankind became wicked and worshipped demons instead of the gods. Before this man prospered and was devout but all of the prosperity made mankind forget about serving the gods and instead they served themselves. They began worshipping demons and devils in order to gain luxory and power. In the end mankind recieved neither. The demons and devil lied and all of the things they gave and promised they took back. Demons and devils roamed the land and wars were endless. Mankind suffered greatly and they had to serve the demons or be killed. Only a few could escape this torment and those were people who managed to live in hiding. The gods did not intervene because they were angry that most of mankind no longer worshipped them. All hope seemed lost.

One day Yahseph, a pious man, returned home to his family only to find them brutally murdered. Yahseph and his family had no money and their death was just meaningless evil. Yahseph in desparation walked up a trail on Mount Paralon and went to a cliff and decided that he was going to end his life because he felt there was no reason for him to live in such a horrible world. As he started to jump off the cliff, he heard the voices of his wife and children begging him to stop. He turned to look and saw a vision of his wife and children standing next to a woman in a simple peasant robe and all were showered by a beautiful golden light. His wife and children said "We are safe now, we are with Palana." Then the vision disappeared and he went to a cave where the entire night his head was filled with visions of celestial beings and prophesies. He recordeed all he saw over a period of months and this became known as the Book of Yahseph.

In the Book of Yahseph it describes the time of the first gods coming into existance from the raw chaos. The gods decided to create a multiverse. As the gods began creating the multiverse, strange ancient gods of pure chaos came and began to corrupt the gods. These ancient gods were described as beings so hideous that a mortal would die or go insane by even looking at them. They seemed to have no form at all, just shifting masses of mindlessly evil chaos. The gods began to fight these ancient beings and the gods that had been corrupted by them. There was a great war and most of the gods died. Only Palana had the power to shunt the ancient gods into dimensional prisons. The other gods were able to help be putting the corrupted gods into a prison known as Hell. When the war ended the gods were victorious but Palana had disappeared and the gods assumed her dead.

Later the book tells of the mortal realm and it's creation. It talks of the first races created and how they turned wicked and began worshipping the ancient gods. Eventually these races met a terrible fate. After this mankind came into existance.

Yahseph decided to preach his message and give out his texts. Few of the people followed him as they were afraid of making the demons angry. Others thought it foolish to worship a dead god. But still Yahseph's following grew, mostly from those outcasted from society. This began to attract the attention of the demons and they sent out an army of demons, goblin-kin and evil men to defeat Yahseph and his followers. Yahseph and his followers had to retreat to Mount Paralon or be slain. They went to the cave of his visions and the built weapons and armor within it. Eventually the army of demons found Yahseph and his followers. There was a great battle and Yaseph and his followers were victorious. After this battle Yahseph and his followers called themselves the Knights of Palana or often just the The Paladins. Soon the Citadel of Paralon was founded as a base from which to attack the forces of evil. At first it was just a simple cave but later it was a fotress rebuilt many times. After Yahseph died the Paladins continued their attack on the forces of evil and the Knights of Palana grew in number throughout many lands.

Now the Citadel is a fortress that keeps watch on the forces of evil and also makes sure that mankind still follows the gods.

Re: [DIY] DF Setting Information

Ancient Gods

The ancient Gods or Ancient Ones are a group of deities that have existed long before the gods, and possibly they have always existed They are beings of pure chaos that destroy order of any kind. For this reason they were attracted to the multiverse that the gods were creating. Their purpose is thought to be to keep the chaos of the universe from becoming ordered. The mere exposure of these deities causes corruption and decay. They have no description and they constantly change shape, usually forming truly hideous things. Their size is beyond mortal comprehension. They will cause mortals to die or go insane and the mere sight of them. They were the first corrupters of the gods, causing some to turn evil and fight against each other. Now most of them have been imprisoned but they are able to enter dreams of mortals to try to get the mortals to release them. They are thought to have contacted the ancient race called the sauwan, which are the fish men, and also the sakyss. The sakyss were almost able to release the ancient gods before their civilization declined.

Re: [DIY] DF Setting Information

Neat! However, since it was alreasy mentioned that the Citadel of Paralon was in the vicinity of the Seldus Mountains, I've modified the wiki entry like this:

"This is an outpost of paladins in the Aldeiron Mountains, a small mountain range near the northwestern end of the Seldus Mountains."

OK? Yes? Then I might add:

The Aldeiron Mountains

A small mountain range to the northwest of the Seldus Mountains. Home to the famous Citadel of Paralon, and usually seen as the southwestern frontier of the lands known as the Western Kingdoms.

Re: [DIY] DF Setting Information

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Cardinal

Yeah, the Aldeiron Mountains are next to the Seldus Mountains.

Re: [DIY] DF Setting Information

Quote:

Originally Posted by b-dog

Huldra-elves
These are nasty elves with jet black skin and hair along with red eyes. They are tricksters and delight in cruel jokes. They prefer to remain hidden during the day, usually in caves but at night they will often come into towns and make mischief. The lick of their toungue causes a deformity, possibly crippling the person recieving it. Most huldras prefer to deceive others instead of merely killing them as they have strong faery blood. Their tricks can be quite horrific though, often cause severe injury or disfigurement. A few will follow dark cults or serve demons. They slpit from the elves in the Faery Realm when they sided with the trolls, orcs, goblins and shadow elves.

Can you expand on the Huldra-elves. I think I'm reading this as their hair color is jet black (in addition to their skin). How tall are they typically. Any particular body type? What language do they speak? Why does the lick of their tongues cause deformity? (Pretty gross that they go around licking people to begin with). Is their someplace in the thread where you describe faeries and indicate why faeries are into tricking people?

Are huldra elves magically talented/gifted? What demons do they serve? Did they play a major roll in the Demon Wars? By the way, when did the Demon Wars occur and what was the cause?

Time for more depth.

Re: [DIY] DF Setting Information

The "Demon Wars" sound like they would make for a great "dark age of the ancient world" - in the style of the classic dark age between 1200 BC and 800 BC
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronze_Age_collapse
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_Dark_Age

...so they should be set in an age about 3000 years before the present.

Maybe roughly like this (only using established content):

Sakyss
Sakyss War Against The Beings From Beyond
.
.
.
Elven golden age
.
.
...slow rise of humans and the humanoid races
..first great human realms
.
.Demon Wars!
.
rise from the ashes
.
.
. founding of Nothgord
.human empire of Ilroyne
.
.fall of Ilroyne
.
.
.?
?
.
.
.
.
.
.present

Re: [DIY] DF Setting Information

P.S.: even if the canyon system known as "Hellmaw" predates the Demon Wars, it still seems likely that it gained this name based on what happened in these wars - maybe the canyon truly was used as some great dimensional beachhead from Hell?

Re: [DIY] DF Setting Information

Quote:

Originally Posted by griffin

Can you expand on the Huldra-elves. I think I'm reading this as their hair color is jet black (in addition to their skin).

Both their hair and skin is jet black.

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How tall are they typically.

They are a normal sized elf 5 to 6 feet tall.

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Any particular body type?

They tend to be thin and athletic.

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What language do they speak?

They speak huldra and common languages.

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Why does the lick of their tongues cause deformity? (Pretty gross that they go around licking people to begin with).

This is just from myths and stories I read about the huldrafolk. I just included it to kind of preserve the myth part.

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Is their someplace in the thread where you describe faeries and indicate why faeries are into tricking people?

No, but in faery tales, faeries often play tricks on mortals. The huldra are much more evil in their jokes. For instance what a huldra might find funny would probably get the death penalty in our society. Imagine it is someones birthday and they go to their front porch and find a beautifully wrapped present and a card saying "I hope you have a wonderful birthday." But when they open the present they find their mother's severed head inside. That is the kind of joke huldras play.

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Are huldra elves magically talented/gifted?

Yeah, they should have magery 1 and many darkness spells.

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What demons do they serve?

Huldras serve themselves, they will worship demons only for their own benefit. A few are different and will remain loyal but most care little for demons and if they can find a better demon with more power they will abandon the original demon they were worshipping for a new more powerful one.

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Did they play a major roll in the Demon Wars?

Of course, where ever there is misery and suffering there will be huldras. They sided with the demons to harm man.

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By the way, when did the Demon Wars occur and what was the cause?

After the decline of the Sakyss, man became the dominant race ofthe world. Man at first worshipped the gods and followed a moral code. Through this man prospered and later as a result of man's prosperity he no longer followed the gods because they took time away from his indulgences. Man found it easy to worship demons as they promised to give the same things as the gods with little effort on the part of man. Soon man had summoned many demons to the mortal realm and as demons normally do, they turned out to be lying and instead began to enslave mankind. The demons also warred against each other using men and goblin-kin as fodder. The result of this was that the world became a real hell on earth. This is when Yahseph, who was still devout to the gods, found the avatar of Palana and made a covenant.

Quote:

Time for more depth.

OK.

Re: [DIY] DF Setting Information

Gomga Tarr and the Time of Skulls

More than thirteen centuries have come and gone since the so-called Time of Skulls.
The empire of Ilroyne was only a fleeting memory when the legendary Gomga Tarr, a giant among goblins, managed to unite the savage nomad tribes of the far eastern plains beyond the Earthblood Plains. His enormous army plowed through the plains on their way to the west, slaughtering whole clans of Stormrider elves and dozens of human nomad tribes. After the terrible defeat of the western armies at Pallor Pass, the large valley between the Black Wall and the Seldus Mountains, Gomga Tarr's forces poured into the Land of Five Rivers.

The next three years were a time of rape and slaughter which brought the fall of the Dhactylean princes and the defeat of the warrior tribes of the western coast...

...until the Day of Mystery. On the morning before a great battle between a few remaining western armies under the leadership of Verrick the Great - who would later found the first of the Western Kingdoms - Gomga Tarr disappeared.
Without a trace. And the goblin-kin hordes turned around their horses and warbeasts - and left to the east, never to return.
Until today no sage, wizard or priest could answer why this happened - and the goblin-kin nomads will kill any one who dares to ask.