- Joined
- Nov 10, 2008
- Messages
- 3,104
- Reputation score
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Notable Locations:
Grand Spire - Prosperous settlement surviving from the Great War. Heavily lawful, guard and militia highly reliant on constructs. Ruled over by a figure known as the High Lord.
-Waterwood Falls - Fortified settlement, serves as training grounds for divine personnel.
-Stone Hill - Former site of major Dwarven colony. Destroyed ten years prior in massive explosion. Access is heavily restricted by the High Lord's orders.
-King's Reach - Heavily fortified stronghold, serves as training grounds for Inquisitors, Cavaliers, and Construct-handlers.
-New Bellows - Highly restricted stronghold. Serves as both prison and construct foundry.
-New Illian - Frontier fortress, serves as training grounds for martial personnel.
-Clearspring - Fortified archives, serves as training grounds for most arcane personnel.
-Raspir's Woods - Named after first archdruid after the Great War, who reportedly replanted the forest. Serves as training grounds for natural personnel.
-Ambervale - Primary agriculture center. Semi-fortified.
The Forge Lands - Distant Dwarven Stronghold, with both natural fortifications and constructed ones. Although it is believed to hold the new headquarters for Licht's rebels, it is currently deemed too difficult to attack directly.
-Gateway - Main harbor for the Forge Lands, only known safe point for landing an army. The harbor itself leads to a road carved through the treacherous mountains surrounding the Forge Lands. This road is paved, well-maintained, and flanked by rows of strange black obelisks capped with red crystals. According to all reports, the army sent by the High Lord of Grand Spire met with catastrophic disaster when they attempted to assault the Forge Lands proper when Tomas Licht was believed to have fled there.
-Grandholme - Dwarven Capital, likely site of Licht's own workshop and library. Extraordinarily heavily defended, it also houses some of the best forges for creating magical items. Also, it is the site of the Council of Elders, the Dwarves' ruling body.
-Deephold - Primary Dwarven mining hold. Also the origin point for the Dwarves' magma channels that allow magma to be used throughout the Forge Lands, primarily for powering their forges.
-Springuard - Dwarven hold. Origin point for the Dwarves' aqueduct system. Any threat to Springuard often triggers a response from the various human communities as well as the Living Glade.
-The Living Glade - Elven colony and druid site. Established to ease the recovery of the large valley that forms much of the surface area of the Forge Lands, and is required to help feed the Dwarven Holds. Much of the necessary agriculture is handled by humans friendly to or allied with the Dwarves.
Notable History:
The Great War - major cataclysm in recent history. Previously unknown attackers, wielding unusual life-draining and mind-controlling powers, attempted to completely wipe out all life, but were eventually stopped. The key figures on the "local" side of the war were known as 'the Sage', 'the Crafter', and 'the Saint'. Near the end of war, the Saint was killed and the Crafter vanished. According to the histories from that time, the Sage and the Crafter had a falling out over how to deal with the attackers. Shortly thereafter, the Saint was found dead. The current belief is that the Crafter went insane and killed the Saint, and perhaps himself. The war ended with the Sage leading an army of constructs to victory over the attackers. After that, the Sage became the first High Lord.
Notable Persons:
Tomas Licht - Former researcher from Grand Spire. Went rogue after learning of a possible source of accurate information concerning the end of the Great War. Began using his full name after finding that information, and went from rogue agent to full-blown rebel at same time. Initially based out of Stone Hill, fled to the Forge Lands after the explosion.
Noted active races:
Humans: Mostly allied with Grand Spire and the High Lord.
Elves: Generally neutral in the conflict, often more concerned with trying to repair damage to the land from the Great War than anything else.
Dwarves: Allied with Tomas Licht. Treated as second-class citizens in Grand Spire at best. At worst, they're treated as spies or sabotuers.
-Duergar: This dwarven off-shoot hails from Deephold. They bear no ill-will towards the rest of the Dwarven race, and actually tend to prefer to let them handle the talking. Taciturn and cautious, Duergar have a strong work ethic.
Halflings: Rarely given much thought, the Halflings tend towards looking out for themselves first, their families second, and care almost nothing for either side in the conflict, unless they're certain that they can benefit from one side or the other.
Gnomes: Highly inquisitive, the gnomes work for the High Lord, mostly in New Bellows, King's Reach, or Clearspring.
Half-Elves: Most of the outwardly active druids and rangers come from the half-elves.
Half-Orcs: Almost entirely found in the various barbarian tribes and clans, half-orcs are normally viewed as shock troops by Grand Spire.
"Warforged": Based from the constructs used by the Sage to end the Great War, the secrets of their creation never leave New Bellows. They are noted for having fairly standardized attachments to give them set abilities for the task they are meant for.
"Forged Ones": Advanced constructs used by Tomas Licht. At first, they seem identical to the Warforged. However, they tend to be more likely to show personality beyond their given tasks. A noted difference between them and the Warforged is their attachments. Each seems to have an individualized set.
Changelings - These half-hag off-spring are quite rare since the Great War, yet a few remain. Most tend to pass themselves off as human. No Annis Hags survived the Great War.
Dhampir - These half-vampire are mostly wanderers.
Notable Artifacts or Major Magical Devices:
Grand Forges - Powerful devices used by Grand Spire artisans in the crafting of additional Warforged. Possibly Gnomish in origin.
Maker's Forge - Originally, there were two of these extremely powerful crafting forges, relics of the Dwarves. One is at Grandholme, while the other was lost in the destruction of Stone Hill. Occasionally, Grand Spire forces attempt to sift through the rubble of Stone Hill looking for the lost Forge.
Claw Towers - Mysterious towers topped by claw-like crystal extensions. Originally crafted by the Dwarves, and later copied by the Gnomes, these structures block teleportation within a wide area around them. There are rumors about Grand Spire's Warforged forces having some means of bypassing their own Towers and teleporting anyway. Of course, it is thought that Licht and the Dwarves may have similar means for theirs.
The black obelisks - The black obelisks reported to line the road from Gateway into the Forge Lands proper are rumored by many in Grand Spire to be powerful magical traps of some unknown nature.
**WORK IN-PROGRESS**
Grand Spire - Prosperous settlement surviving from the Great War. Heavily lawful, guard and militia highly reliant on constructs. Ruled over by a figure known as the High Lord.
-Waterwood Falls - Fortified settlement, serves as training grounds for divine personnel.
-Stone Hill - Former site of major Dwarven colony. Destroyed ten years prior in massive explosion. Access is heavily restricted by the High Lord's orders.
-King's Reach - Heavily fortified stronghold, serves as training grounds for Inquisitors, Cavaliers, and Construct-handlers.
-New Bellows - Highly restricted stronghold. Serves as both prison and construct foundry.
-New Illian - Frontier fortress, serves as training grounds for martial personnel.
-Clearspring - Fortified archives, serves as training grounds for most arcane personnel.
-Raspir's Woods - Named after first archdruid after the Great War, who reportedly replanted the forest. Serves as training grounds for natural personnel.
-Ambervale - Primary agriculture center. Semi-fortified.
The Forge Lands - Distant Dwarven Stronghold, with both natural fortifications and constructed ones. Although it is believed to hold the new headquarters for Licht's rebels, it is currently deemed too difficult to attack directly.
-Gateway - Main harbor for the Forge Lands, only known safe point for landing an army. The harbor itself leads to a road carved through the treacherous mountains surrounding the Forge Lands. This road is paved, well-maintained, and flanked by rows of strange black obelisks capped with red crystals. According to all reports, the army sent by the High Lord of Grand Spire met with catastrophic disaster when they attempted to assault the Forge Lands proper when Tomas Licht was believed to have fled there.
-Grandholme - Dwarven Capital, likely site of Licht's own workshop and library. Extraordinarily heavily defended, it also houses some of the best forges for creating magical items. Also, it is the site of the Council of Elders, the Dwarves' ruling body.
-Deephold - Primary Dwarven mining hold. Also the origin point for the Dwarves' magma channels that allow magma to be used throughout the Forge Lands, primarily for powering their forges.
-Springuard - Dwarven hold. Origin point for the Dwarves' aqueduct system. Any threat to Springuard often triggers a response from the various human communities as well as the Living Glade.
-The Living Glade - Elven colony and druid site. Established to ease the recovery of the large valley that forms much of the surface area of the Forge Lands, and is required to help feed the Dwarven Holds. Much of the necessary agriculture is handled by humans friendly to or allied with the Dwarves.
Notable History:
The Great War - major cataclysm in recent history. Previously unknown attackers, wielding unusual life-draining and mind-controlling powers, attempted to completely wipe out all life, but were eventually stopped. The key figures on the "local" side of the war were known as 'the Sage', 'the Crafter', and 'the Saint'. Near the end of war, the Saint was killed and the Crafter vanished. According to the histories from that time, the Sage and the Crafter had a falling out over how to deal with the attackers. Shortly thereafter, the Saint was found dead. The current belief is that the Crafter went insane and killed the Saint, and perhaps himself. The war ended with the Sage leading an army of constructs to victory over the attackers. After that, the Sage became the first High Lord.
Current estimates are that approximately 93% of all life, both plant and animal, were in fact wiped out during the war.
Notable Persons:
Tomas Licht - Former researcher from Grand Spire. Went rogue after learning of a possible source of accurate information concerning the end of the Great War. Began using his full name after finding that information, and went from rogue agent to full-blown rebel at same time. Initially based out of Stone Hill, fled to the Forge Lands after the explosion.
What drove Tomas to his rebellion was the discovery of what happened towards the end of the Great War: The Sage and the Crafter had a falling out over how to complete their construct army to stop the aggressors. In that argument, the Crafter had the support of the Saint, who was his wife. The Sage ended up murdering the Saint when he couldn't convince her of his plan. The Crafter collapsed in a depression from this, never to recover. However, their children lived on, mostly in secret. Licht himself is a descendant of the Crafter and the Saint.
Noted active races:
Humans: Mostly allied with Grand Spire and the High Lord.
Elves: Generally neutral in the conflict, often more concerned with trying to repair damage to the land from the Great War than anything else.
Dwarves: Allied with Tomas Licht. Treated as second-class citizens in Grand Spire at best. At worst, they're treated as spies or sabotuers.
-Duergar: This dwarven off-shoot hails from Deephold. They bear no ill-will towards the rest of the Dwarven race, and actually tend to prefer to let them handle the talking. Taciturn and cautious, Duergar have a strong work ethic.
Halflings: Rarely given much thought, the Halflings tend towards looking out for themselves first, their families second, and care almost nothing for either side in the conflict, unless they're certain that they can benefit from one side or the other.
Gnomes: Highly inquisitive, the gnomes work for the High Lord, mostly in New Bellows, King's Reach, or Clearspring.
Half-Elves: Most of the outwardly active druids and rangers come from the half-elves.
Half-Orcs: Almost entirely found in the various barbarian tribes and clans, half-orcs are normally viewed as shock troops by Grand Spire.
"Warforged": Based from the constructs used by the Sage to end the Great War, the secrets of their creation never leave New Bellows. They are noted for having fairly standardized attachments to give them set abilities for the task they are meant for.
"Forged Ones": Advanced constructs used by Tomas Licht. At first, they seem identical to the Warforged. However, they tend to be more likely to show personality beyond their given tasks. A noted difference between them and the Warforged is their attachments. Each seems to have an individualized set.
Changelings - These half-hag off-spring are quite rare since the Great War, yet a few remain. Most tend to pass themselves off as human. No Annis Hags survived the Great War.
Dhampir - These half-vampire are mostly wanderers.
Notable Artifacts or Major Magical Devices:
Grand Forges - Powerful devices used by Grand Spire artisans in the crafting of additional Warforged. Possibly Gnomish in origin.
Maker's Forge - Originally, there were two of these extremely powerful crafting forges, relics of the Dwarves. One is at Grandholme, while the other was lost in the destruction of Stone Hill. Occasionally, Grand Spire forces attempt to sift through the rubble of Stone Hill looking for the lost Forge.
It was actually the deliberate destruction of the Maker's Forge that caused the explosion that destroyed Stone Hill.
Claw Towers - Mysterious towers topped by claw-like crystal extensions. Originally crafted by the Dwarves, and later copied by the Gnomes, these structures block teleportation within a wide area around them. There are rumors about Grand Spire's Warforged forces having some means of bypassing their own Towers and teleporting anyway. Of course, it is thought that Licht and the Dwarves may have similar means for theirs.
The black obelisks - The black obelisks reported to line the road from Gateway into the Forge Lands proper are rumored by many in Grand Spire to be powerful magical traps of some unknown nature.
**WORK IN-PROGRESS**
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