World Building

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World Building (Serenia Fallen)

I am working on a fantasy world to use in various rps.

The first one in this series is called The Divine Ordeal and set in the Kingdom of Sarthia, and describing the painful ritual by which a new Queen of the land wins the approval of Sarthia's harsh gods.

I am using a map of the middle east as a map for the region in which the rps are set, because I am not good at drawing maps, and using an existing map will make it easier to orientate. The cultures invented for the rp are NOT based on the past and present cultures of the middle east - I might use the languages and architectures of the area, but the cultures and religions will be a lot different and by no means related.

Please pm me if you are interested in working on this (not yet named) world with me or in running an rp situated there. The setting is called Serenia Fallen, because until a few hundred years ago, the most powerful force in this region was the great empire of Serenia. This empire is now gone, as it had been weakend by decadence, intrigue and civil war, before being destroyed by an invasion of orcs and other barbarian tribes.

The world will include typical fantasy races like dwarves, gnomes, elves, and orcs, but they will be very rare outside of their homelands or the biggest cities. Magic exists but is usually based on religion and extremely subtle, thus only the faithful will usually aknowledge that it worked. An exception is the powerful magic of the Divine Dreamers. But there are only very few of these mysterious gnome wizards.

This thread is a work in progress and I will update and edit my posts with new ideas while developing this fantasy world and its cultures.

 

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Sarthia
Sarthia is loctated in a rather hostile and inaccessible mountain region. The Sarthians are known to be as harsh and remorseless as their surroundings. To survive in their unfriendly homeland, they have developed strict discipline.

Sarthians are proud warriors, that have fought off all attempts of conquest by their more wealthy and numerous rulers. They are tall and lean, and usually have dark blonde, brown or copper hair, tanned skin and brown, blue or green eyes.


The Gods of Sarthia:

Kalan, The Blind God: Father of four daughters. God of visions, of leadership and justice

Zamin, The Mountain Lioness: Goddess of War, Soil and the homeland

Hawa, The Biting Wind, Goddess of Air, Weather and Change

Atas, The Purifying Flame, Goddess of Fire, Destruction and Punishment

Ab, The Relentless Torrent: Goddess of Water, birth, renewal and surprise

 

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Serenia
The huge and fertile region called Serenia is not a unified kingdom. Its northern parts are often raided by Sarthian warriors, its eastern reaches under the control of the primordial Beast Lords of Aûn and in the central lands the Divine Dreamers, a mysterious race of gnomish wizards rules various warring fiefdoms.

Serenians are well known for their beauty, their easy going nature, their lack of discipline and their sheer uselessness in war. Serenians excel at the arts and crafts like dancing, painting, sculpting, music and acting. They are also decent farmers and gardeners. Serenians usually have dark, wavy or curly hair, dark eyes and sensual features.

Half a century ago, Serenia was a powerful empire, and the Serenian infantry widely feared and respected for their discipline and prowess. But these days are long over, decadence and internal struggle have long destroyed the once proud Serenian Empire. Only the arrival of the powerful wizards of the Divine Dreamers had saved the Serenians from becoming enslaved by their neighbours like the Sarthians or the Beastslords of Aûn.


The Gods of Serenia:
in the cities controlled by the gnomes, some of the Serenians worship the Divine Dreamers, but outside of the big cities, in rurals regions, the old gods are still worshipped by the vast majority of Serenians.

The Mother Serenia: Mother of the country, beloved and referred by all of Serenians, her soothing song guides her children through all peril.

Bahar: The youngest of the sons, always agile and full of new ideas, the god of innovation, young love and foolish ideas.

Tābestān: the second youngest, the passionate one, god of heated desire, of dance and poetry.

Pajiz: the second oldest son, god of harvest, of family and fidelty.

Zemestan: the oldest son, the fierce protector, known for his wisdom, his sarcastic wit and his grumpy nature, usually only called for in hardship and bad times.

 

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Aûn

East of Serenia, Aûn, is a barren Land of hills and steppes. It is the homeland to the Beast Lords,
the few descendants of ancient primordial gods who have survived to this age. They are hulking and powerful barely civilized humanoids, with the heads of lions, bears or bulls. Their subjects are usually mainly Serenians and half-orcs. Some Beast Lords who are a bit more civilized than the others have made arrangements with the Divine Dreamers, guarding the eastern borders of their empire against incursions from the orcish hordes of the east. Some of the Beast Lords still worship their ancient gods out of tradition, even though they know they are gone. Most Beast Lords own a huge number of slaves, especially their harems are notorious. There are only male Beast Lords. They are able to procreate with human women. In 9 out of 10 cases the child will be a human girl, a bit stronger and more wild than other human girl's but otherwise normal. In the rare case that the child is male it will be a Beast Lord just like his father. If not assisted by a healer, the human woman would die while giving birth. Fortunately most Beast Lords have healers in their court to provide help in such a case, as they hold the women who bear them sons in very high regard.