[DIY] DF Setting Information

[b-dog]

Slyphs

These faeries are part air elemental and they have the ability to become insubstantial and fly through the air. They look somewhat like elves and they are magical. They can become delvers and they are usually wizards or druids.

[b-dog]

So I've created a small wiki here - most of the content from this thread is (and will be) copied there, but I took the liberty to leave out quite a few elves/faeries, including all (well, almost all) "cookie elves" stuff.

Why not include a lot of faeries? They are interesting for some people and they can be deleted for others who don't like them. That doesn't seem very fair.

A timeline is not in there yet - and anything in that direction should probably be kept vague and concentrated on creation myths and ancient stuff.

There needs to be some sort of timeline or the setting will not make sense.

Please: keep posting to this thread - there's solid potential here and I'd like to prevent that from going to waste. :)

[The Cardinal]

Originally Posted by b-dog

Gnomes

These beings are relatives of dwarves but they are also closely related to earth elementals. They are shorter and smaller than dwarves but they have the ability to permeate the earth and even breath in it. They are often craftsmen working intricate machines but they can also be delvers too. They tend to be thieves or wizards when delving as they are not as physically powerful as their cousins the dwarves.

I like the idea - but this directly contradicts the DF canon on gnomes (DF3, p.10)!
Maybe we could re-name *this* variant "Deep Gnomes" or something like that, and turn them into relatives of gnomes instead of dwarves?!?

[The Cardinal]

Originally Posted by b-dog

Why not include a lot of faeries? They are interesting for some people and they can be deleted for others who don't like them. That doesn't seem very fair.

I only tried to excise the elves and fairies which seemed to be a bit too much on the "cookie elves" and "elf elves" side of things. The vast majority of them is still in there! No unfairness was intended, but IMHO we should try to preserve the *tone* of the DF series - which is more on the dungeoncrawlin' H&S side of things, and a lot less on the side of "Peter Pan presents the Great Book of Pixies" ;)

However, how about a less simple name for the Poison Elves - maybe Nightshade Elves? We could keep "Poison Elves" as their "street name"...

Originally Posted by b-dog

There needs to be some sort of timeline or the setting will not make sense.

I agree 100%. I'd just like to
a) wait for more content before setting things in stone
b) try to keep the timeline open for lots of individual interpretations and modifications.

[The Cardinal]

The Earthblood Plains

South of the Horseshoe Hills, along the shores of the great Earthblood river, lie the vast expanses of the Earthblood Plains. This land of endless savannahs and low grassy hills stretches all the way down to the dry northern edge of the Sea of Dust.
While the grasslands farther to the west have longed be claimed by tribes of human nomads, and while the steppe to the east - dotted with the spiky ruins of ancient wizards' towers - has been the home of savage goblin-kin raiders and strange monsters for the past thousand years, the Earthblood Plains themselves are and have always been the home to the brave tribes of the centaurs and their allies, the noble Stormrider Elves.
The human nomads farther west also tell of large herds of incredibly beautiful and intelligent horses. They call them "exalted" horses, and say that only one in thousand will be chosen by an exalted horse as its rider!
On the other hand the same nomads also tell of actual unicorns who live on the fertile plains of the Earthblood river - so it's maybe wise to take all those stories with several pinches of salt...

[The Cardinal]

Originally Posted by salmanq

Can some one tell me in little detail what is the exact meaning of the discussion doing on?

to create - as a collective effort of the members of this board - a some-what canon setting for the Dungeon Fantasy series (see also the first post of this thread) ;)


P.S.: the wiki has been updated and expanded.

[The Cardinal]

The Spellstone Coast

This is the name of the stretch of land where the Faery Forest reaches all the way to the shores of the western ocean. The name is supposed to come from the hundreds of large menhirs which line the beaches of this region. Most sailors fear the Spellstone Coast - but they all agree that they would fear it even more, if not for those tall old stones which "keep the evil spirits at bay and dim the eerie lights from the forest".
The Spellstone Coast also separates the western kingdoms with their busy harbor cities from the fierce barbarians of the Frozen North who live on the coast of the Everwinter Sea.

[The Cardinal]

The Bittermark

Some history books speak of a time when the lands today known as the Bittermark were fertile and green, all the way up to the dark green foothills of the Black Wall Mountains.
Those days are gone.
Now the area to the northeast of Otamia, between the lower Osten river and the Black Wall, is void of all remnants of civilization and culture. No farms, no green meadows, no towns, villages, or cities can be found there - only some ruins. For centuries now the Bittermark has become a home of kobolds, outlaws, goblin-kin, and wild minotaurs. Strange and fearsome monsters wander through the pale hills and barren plains, always ready to devour less formidable travelers...

[younglorax]

Can we possibly put together a very rough -- and definitely not yet canon -- map?

I'm having a little trouble piecing the geography together.

[b-dog]

Originally Posted by The Cardinal

I only tried to excise the elves and fairies which seemed to be a bit too much on the "cookie elves" and "elf elves" side of things. The vast majority of them is still in there! No unfairness was intended, but IMHO we should try to preserve the *tone* of the DF series - which is more on the dungeoncrawlin' H&S side of things, and a lot less on the side of "Peter Pan presents the Great Book of Pixies" ;)

There is no tone in DF, I asked Dr. Kromm. This genre is supposed to just have monsters stuck in a dungeon with no logical story as to why they are there. Cookie elves are stupid, but fairies can act as a plot device and a barometer of what is going on around them. They can be the eyes and ears of a forest and explain what they have seen. Also, they can sort of add horrific elements to add some color and suspense. What happens when the PCs follow a trail and then they see dead fairy bodies all over the path? Or what if the fairies are undead or have been exposed to some Elder Entity and now have some alien features?

Also, as far as evil elves go and any other evil race for that matter, I feel there should be as many as possible because drow and duergar have been overused.

However, how about a less simple name for the Poison Elves - maybe Nightshade Elves? We could keep "Poison Elves" as their "street name"...

Sure, that's fine. I just had an idea of elves that could poison stuff by touching it and the name doesn't matter.

I agree 100%. I'd just like to
a) wait for more content before setting things in stone
b) try to keep the timeline open for lots of individual interpretations and modifications.

Fine.