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SETTING NOTES

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In this thread is the almanac, atlas, and bestiary as well as a collection of notes about the setting.

Playing a Monster
As a monster you're used to living in the wilderness or as an outsider living on the fringe of society. Monsters don't normally have kinship with other monsters that are not of their kind but your adventuring group is different. You are united in a common cause to defend your lands from the expansion of humanoids into your territories and to prevent the genocide of your people at their hands in the name of making magic items from your flesh and stealing any magic items your people may have forged or been gifted by the elder gods.

Alignment
There are no alignments or alignment-based abilities, spells, items, etc. in this game. This is not a black or white game. Humanoids aren't necessarily evil and neither are monsters, but due to territory disputes, cultural misunderstandings, blood feuds, fearmongering, and warmongering, most people on either side believe the other side is all or mostly evil or barbaric. You will have to defend yourselves while also making challenging choices as to whether you take the easy route and kill invaders or if you show mercy. It is not unreasonable to believe you might kill certain ones and show mercy to others based on circumstances.

Barriers
Cultural and language barriers are part of the struggle of the game, and can be challenging encounters all their own. You're expected to roleplay these out rather than dismiss them as this is part of the game's flavor and purpose. Knowledge is power and so is the wisdom to wield it and connections to bring it to fruition.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:29, Wed 13 Oct 2021.

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ALMANAC

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This is a list of major historical events that most people would be aware of.

Titanomachy
Though scholars disagree over the exact nature of the world's creation and the gods that rule it, most agree that the world was indeed created by a God or gods and is now ruled by them. One of the oldest recorded events is the Titanomachy, a conflict between younger gods called 'Aesir' or 'pagans' and old gods referred to as 'titans' or 'jotun'. The titans and their spawn were defeated and banished to the dark corners of the world while the pagans and their progeny now roam free. During this great conflict, the World Scar was created during one of the titanic clashes.

Star Fall
Star Fall is actually a series of events starting from before the titanomachy to only a few hundred years ago. Every thousand years or so, great flaming rocks strike the surface of the earth in seemingly random locations. Sometimes, these rocks contain rare metals and other times they contain extraterrestrial monstrosities that sometimes survive the crash and escape into the underworld network of tunnels and caverns beneath the surface of the earth.

Rise of Empires
Though humanoid empires existed before the titanomachy, most were destroyed or greatly weakened by the conflict. Afterwards, the favored peoples of the gods were granted protections in certain areas based on their patron deity and were able to forge new empires. This is how the elves, humans, dwarves, and other humanoid races came to power and why many monsters fell to the wayside no longer having the support of their titan gods and jotun masters.

Age of Conquest
As humanoid empires and kingdoms grew, eventually their borders met and conflicts over these borders gave rise to war. Nowadays, there's always talk of war, either the last one that was only a few years ago or the next one that seems to be brewing somewhere else. It is the new status quo of the world.

Magic of Men
Though humans possess no magic of their own, and elves and dwarves have lost much of their magic since they joined the new age of civilization, they have reclaimed much of their power in both technology and magic items. By slaying monsters and harnessing the magic within, they are able to craft magic items and steal the magic of those they've slain. Thus, monsters are no longer terrifying masters of the wild, but just another enemy to be conquered as humanoid territories expand further and further into the wilderness beyond their original borders...

Recent Events
Currently there are several major factions of empires throughout the known world. Most are human nations, but some major powers are elven or dwarven. The others are various hordes and tribes made up of beastfolk, goblins, orcs, and other more monstrous humanoids that still possess some semblance of civilization. The Men of the West from the nation of Albion pose the greatest threat to monsterkind, perceiving themselves as the 'purifiers' of that which is unholy and unclean: nonhumans. However, the southern human nation of Romulus is no picnic either. Located near the World Scar and central trade routes, Romulus is famous for its arenas and the slaves and monsters that are forced to fight to the death in such arenas for the entertainment of citizens and travelers alike.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:14, Tue 05 Oct 2021.

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ATLAS

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List of Important Places

Albion
A country to the west connected to the mainland only through a small chain of islands. It is mostly inhabited by humans, but some of the old fey and fomorians remain there hidden in the forests and mountains and lakes.


Nidavellir
To the north of the midlands is a country ruled by the dwarves and constantly under siege by the fomorians and jotun who were banished to the farthest reaches of the northern wastes. The dwarves guard the gateways and pathways to the midlands ever vigilante to keep the traitors of mankind banished.


Álfheimr
Alheimr is the land of the elves located between Nidavellir and Albion in the Northwest. It is split into two lands: Ljosalfheimr and Dökkálfheimr. The Ljosalfs (light elves, wood elves, suli elves) live in the various woodlands across the area in treetops and houses carved into giant trees. Dokkalfs (dark elves, cave elves, unsuli elves) live underground or in caves among fungal growths. The two major tribes of elves have a rivalry that borders on being enemies, but doesn't quite cross that line. There are two other tribes of elves that are less prominent including the small aelfs (hobs, fey elves, fairy-kin, pixies) and the gráralf (grey elves, city elves, high elves). Aelfs are more in tune with the powers of the fey and resemble them more while the grey elves are more in tune with technology and arcane magics. Grey elves are the result of intermingling with humans and are often referred to as half-elves due to their much shorter lifespans and smaller ears.



MORE COMING SOON
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:44, Wed 13 Oct 2021.

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BESTIARY

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Monster common knowledge is that humanoids are weak individually but strong in numbers except for the "adventurers" who have learned to wield magic either through spells or magic items.

NINE TRIBES
Though there are many tribes, clans, kingdoms, empires, and races on aether spira, there are nine primary types of creatures: abberations, divinities, fey, machina, mortals, primals, undead.

MAGIC ITEMS
All magic items are forged from the body parts of magical creatures and rare magical substances. Magic items are a grim reminder to most monsters of their place in a world as resources instead of people in the eyes of the humanoids who continue to expand their territory.

ABERRATIONS
All aberrations are extraterrestrial creatures from various planets in the Aberrant Realm, a galaxy far from here possibly in another plane. They traversed the multiverse to this world ages ago and have made it like a new home. The details of this journey would require extensive knowledge (dungeoneering AND history or ocultism). Nearly all aberrations seem to like moist dark environments and they feed on magic and power either by eating lesser creatures, mind controlling them to be servants, or whatever. Aberrations see the world as a treasure trove of resources for them to exploit. They see dragons as dangerous monsters and humanoids as lesser creatures either as beasts of burden, pests, or food. They see no difference between aberrations eating humans and humans eating pigs and cows. Of course ever since humanoids started making magic items and learning magic those tables have turned and now they're extremely dangerous. Most aberrations are forced to eat lowly beasts now. It's humiliating. Most aberrations are omnivores, but prefer meat. Those that focus on eating more vegetable matter are much healthier though and often less aggressive than their flesh-eating counterparts. Some aberrations theorize among themselves that they were not always so aggressive, but eating flesh of this planet has made them so.

BEASTFOLK
Ages ago the gods created many humanoids by gifting the seed of thought into beasts. Some beastfolk are among the first created (serpentfolk, dragonfolk, lizardfolk, vanara, etc.) Others are fairly new brought about by divine events or wizards experimenting and playing god. However beastfolk come about, their dual nature makes it easy for them to find a place to survive. What's troubling is that humanoids who do not share a beastfolk's features tend to show extreme prejudice, sometimes even blatant hostilities. It's just easier to survive in the wilderness than trying to get along in the city where you might get jumped and murdered and no one would defend you because of the racism. So you often find kinship in monsters or wild beasts and find peace out in nature. That is until humanoids invade your territory and throw you in a steel cage the same way they do to monsters. At least you can pass for humanoids like lizardfolk or catfolk when you need to but that doesn't always give you what you need.

DRAGONS
Dragons are primal beings lying somewhere between a mortal monster and an elemental spirit. Some would even call them hybrids in this sense. They are not to be confused with drakes, which are lesser beasts that appear dragonoid but are not nearly as intelligent as true dragons. Drakes are to dragons what many apes are to humanoids and confusing the two is insulting to dragons. Dragons are usually guardians of something, either a sacred places, ancient treasures, secrets, or even specific cities or people. Dragons often have elemental powers, but they are not versatile sorcerers and are almost always highly specialized.
     Dragons and humanoids are known for not really caring since all dragons and humanoids see themselves as THE or AMONG THE 'most civilized' of creatures on the planet (be it true or not). Although as adventurers get stronger and deadlier with the passing of time there have been some rumors of dragons being slain by some of them (which is also why some dragons have laid waste to villages in anger merely of hearing such news, be it true or not). So the relationship between dragons and humanoids has become...tenuous, as of the past thousand years or so. Humanoids used to be cute little ape-like things running around clanging rocks together. Now they're...vicious little monsters with their boomsticks and magical swords. But they make a lot of cool shiny stuff. (from an old dragon's perspective)

DIVINITIES
Divinities are outsiders from the divine realms be they angelic beings from the many heavenly planes or demonic ones from the many hellish planes or pantheonic gods and demigods throughout the various central planes that overlap with the Material Realm. There are many types of divinities: aeons, archons, angels, astrals, devas, demons, devils, fiends, pagans, etc.

FEY
All fey are creatures from the Fey Realm, a plane that overlaps with the Material Plane as the connection between it and the elemental planes. Most fey are protozoids or spirits but some have been known to come in the form of beasts, cryptids, and even long-lived mortals. It is said elves, dwarves, and gnomes are descendants of intermingling between fey and mortal kind.

INEVITABLES
All inevitables are a collection of artificial beings from many places throughout the universe. They claim to be the inevitable conclusion of all life forms eventually joining their ranks.

UNDEAD
Undead are horrid monstrosities created through necromancy. Once living creatures, they now rely on a combination of dark magic and stealing lifeforce in various methods to keep their existence in tact. Some mindless undead can exist for long periods of time without needing any further sustenance.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:57, Sun 12 Dec 2021.