Hammering Out Details for a Fic

[Gideon020]

Hmm, the Feywild and Shadowfell sound intriguing and it would be to our advantage to have an alternate plane or two for the trio to gain new allies, gear and loot from while the Infernum should work out easily enough.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

So, once we're done working out the physical details for Aeron, we should also work out the same details for Aeron's reflection in both the Feywild and the Shadowfell, is that what you're saying?

So, you think that using Infernum instead of the Abyss and the Nine Hells would be better? If yes, do you want me to post up my info -and my remaining queries- about its incorporation?

Do you want me to design/suggest the various landmasses, with you saying yes or no as to their inclusion and suggesting any alterations that you think might be good? Once you confirm a positive to that, I'll start detailing them. So far, I've got the rudiments for a new area, which I call simply "Dwarfhold" for now. I've also got some ideas on how to make both the Dwarves and the Orcs of this world unique.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

I decided I might as well put up the Infernum stuff here. All of this is being done from memory, but it should be accurate enough.

In the base cosmology of 4E, originally there was nothingness, but then nothingness 'split' into two planes; the Elemental Chaos and the Astral Sea. Priomordials, god-like beings of elemental essence, arose from the Elemental Chaos (possibly alongside the other elementals, though they might have made them later) and created the three worlds- The Mortal World (what, in our 'setting', we call Aeron), The Feywild (which was created from creation-stuff that was cast off as being "too bright") and The Shadowfell (overly dark creation-stuff). After this, the gods formed within the Astral Sea, and created life upon the three worlds. This infuriated the Primordials, and the two factions fell to fighting, with the Primordials eventually being slain, imprisoned or corrupted into the Demon Princes.

Though they did hate the gods for imposing life (and, consequently, stability) upon the worlds, the Primordials did take some lessons from them if my memory serves- that resulted in the creation of the Titans, the more powerful breed of Giants, who in turn created the Giants (taking their cue from the smoother and more refined creations of the gods, though still with pronounced elemental traits). This racial allegiance to the Primordials is why the Giants hate "little ones" so... well, that and the fact that their empire/civilisation was destroyed because the Dwarves and other races that they had enslaved were freed by the efforts of Moradin and other gods.

The Abyss was created by a god (Tharzidun) implanting a kind of "seed" of pure elemental evil and madness within the Elemental Chaos, resulting in a kind of "tumour" blooming within the creation-stuff, a nightmarish void from which emerged the demons. Some gods and primordials were corrupted, becoming various Demon Princes. The Nine Hells are the sealed-off Dominion (astral "continent", the dwelling places and creations of gods and extremely powerful beings) of a god whose identity is now lost. Ruled by Asmodeus, now one of the Gods of Evil, Asmodeus and his underling Devils were originally Angels, but Asmodeus treacherously murdered his master and usurped his place. For this, he and his followers were imprisoned and transformed into their current monstrous forms.

Now then, my ideas for the "new" cosmology of my 'base setting' follows a different route. Because there's no real need for Primordials, my setting has none- this also has the added "detail" (for lack of a better word) that there aren't any of the core Demon Princes in it either, which raises a problem for the Drow (I'll get to that in a moment). In my cosmology, the Astral Sea and the Elemental Chaos are referred to as the Worlds of Spirit and Matter, respectively, and the first "life" emerged from the Astral Sea, being the Gods of this cosmology- entities of pure Spirit. The gods discovered that they could shape matter, and used the Elemental Chaos as the 'building blocks' to create a world... unfortunately, due to their youth and inexperience, the world they made had no Spirit component and was thus dark and ugly, populated by mindless, soulless monstrosities now called Spawn.

Then they tried again, this time incorporating Spirit into the Matter. They first experimented in the Elemental Chaos, creating the various Elementals by incorporating increasing amounts of Spirit into the elemental Matter. They then created the Mortal World (Aeron, in this case), with the Feywild and Shadowfell emerging as accidental creations, perhaps caused by the amount of Spirit involved in such an act. They then peopled the newly made worlds with the various creatures.

Unfortunately, after this, there came a time of turmoil generally referred to as the War in the Heavens- though don't make the mistake of thinking this was anything like the straight-forward wars of the mortal world, with two clearly defined sides. This was more a series of squabbles and arguments and bloody battles between various gods that were arguing with each other; an all-encompassing chaos rather than a true war. Finally, the gods calmed down and peace resumed, by which time they'd formed into the current pantheon and established the general rule that they would no longer interfere with the mortal worlds or each other directly. Of course, these rules are bent out of shape all the time, but no one will outright break them. Unless they really think they can get away with it...

The Infernum owes its existence to this time; an unknown Exarch/Archangel in service to a god whose identity has been lost persuaded some of its fellows to try and rebel, only for all of the renegades to be defeated and cast onto the abandoned "First World" as punishment. Events from there are pretty much the same as in the Infernum books themselves; the angry angels crossbred with the spawn to create demons warrior-slaves, only to end up being driven away or devoured by their "children". The biggest difference is that the god who the First Fallen rebelled against is unknown because he/she was destroyed by its enemies in the period of weakness caused by the rebellion.

[Gideon020]

I like it, very well put together. I assume that there are ways to access the Infernum, Feywild and Shadowfell from the Mortal Plane such as portals and the like?

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

Yup. Because the Feywild and Shadowfell are basically "reflections" of the Mundus (the Prime Material, in old terminology), portals and the like between them are quite common. Ever heard the old legend about not stepping into a mushroom ring, or otherwise you'll end up in the fairy kingdoms? In 4e, even this modified version, that can actually happen. Portals to the Infernum are rarer, and tend to be made artificially. One can also find natural portals in the Shadowfell; these "cracks" in the planar fabric are how some, if not most, souls end up falling into the Infernum

This altered cosmology has an impact on two races; the drow by default, and the Dragonborn because I thought it might be a good idea to tweak them. With the Dragonborn, my idea was that originally the dragons (of all sorts) laid clutches of eggs, but a number of the other gods (primarily racial patrons- Moradin and his ilk) didn't like the idea of dragons becoming the dominant (or only) species on the world and so they afflicted a potent curse on the drakes; they would either produce a very small (1 to 3, usually) clutch of dragon eggs, something that would only happen in certain situations, or they would produce an ordinary sized clutch (about 10-20) of eggs... that would hatch into dragonborn.

My removal of the Primordials also affects the splitting Io, racial god of dragons, into Bahamut (racial god of metallic dragons) and Tiamat (racial god of chromatic dragons), so I came up with a new idea. Borrowing from the Lizardfolk religion of 3.5, where they are the literal children of Kecuala (hermaphroditic mate of the likewise gendered Semaunya, who split into seperate male and female beings due to thinking too much), I decided that originally Io was -in its own mind- a perfect being, due to embodying in equal parts various conflicting elements. Nobility and selfishness, avarice and generosity, kindness and cruelty, male and female. This arrogance (and its power) didn't make it very popular with the other gods, and so it was attacked constantly during the War. Unable to tolerate the idea of working with a "less perfect" being, but admitting that the inability to be in two places at once was costing it, it finally split into Bahamut and Tiamat. Unfortunately, the two gods despised each other instinctively and their conflict eventually drove them apart- but not before they ended up losing Io's dominion due to their inability to co-operate.

I was also thinking of 'tweaking' Bahamut and Tiamat a little: I was thinking of making Bahamut the "Mithril Dragon", as platinum isn't really so special now that the metallic lineup includes the adamantine dragon, and turning Tiamat into the "Dragon of No Colors", as opposed to its previous status as the Dragon of Many Colours. I was also thinking of making Bahamut a goddess and Tiamat a god, rather than the other way around.

Now, the real question is the drow: without the Abyss as the "wellspring of corruption", there's no way for Lloth to become the Demon Princess of Spiders. But the Drow are evil elves whose most notable characteristic is their worship/usage of demons. So what to do about them? My thought was to make them the descendants of an outcast group of Eladrin (the "proto-race" from which elves and drow sprang in the world's dawn), exiled in a bloody war that spelled the end of the "golden era" for the Eladrin people due to their fascination with demons, which had begun with a prediliction for studying them/summoning them and ended with the formation of outright cults of demon worship.

The vague idea is that the drow religion, in this cosmology, is actually the descendant of those ancient cults- given the basic motifs of the Drow, I was thinking that these cults would be the Cults of Pleasure (aligned with House Riethii) and Pain (aligned with House Astyanath). Though the clerics and infernal warlocks of these cults do hold power, they aren't the absolute rulers of drow society like Lloth's faithful are in core 4E; that position actually belongs to an elite "caste" of drow half-demons. In a way, part of the cults' power is the fact that, as the ones most likely to conjure demons, they're the ones most likely to bear/sire "nobles".

I admit it's still rather vague and needs some clarity, so we might want to work on that as well. So, what's your comments?

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

Just thought I might as well post up those race ideas for Dwarves and Orcs. First up, the orcs- now, correct me if I'm wrong, but part of Aeron's history is that a powerful magocracy did... 'something'... to one of the three moons and caused it to smash into the magocracy's homeland, thus influencing the current world's shape, right? Well, I was thinking of connecting orcs to that magocracy: members of other races claim either that the orcs are some kind of monster that resulted from that cataclysm (either creations of the mages set free, or abominations from the moon that survived and started wandering Aeron) or that they are the descendants of that land's people, transformed into their current monstrous form as punishment for their crimes.

Orcs, however, have a rather different view: they believe that they are, and always were, the ones who created and controlled the "Moon Kingdom" (no offense to Sailor Moon fans), but it was the interference of the "lesser peoples" that disrupted the ritual and caused the moon to crash. It is thus their divinely mandated purpose, their god-given right, to enslave all other races and restore themselves as the masters of the world once again.

What do you think?

For the Dwarves, as they no longer have any Charisma penalty (no race does, to be honest), I was thinking of making them different to the standard versions. Rather than isolationist and gruff, dwarves of Aeron are explorers, friendly and outgoing. They need to be: the race, as a whole, is mercantile. The dwarves of Aeron are a people of traders, merchants and explorers; their own homeland is sparse and barren, but they found out long ago that A: it's a lot easier to trade for something you want and B: everyone wants something. So dwarf society has basically developed into something between a plutocracy and a meritocracy; the worth of a dwarf is measured by how rich/successful they are and that determines their place in society.

One thing that occured to me was that this means, unlike dwarves in other setting, Aeronians actually favour ostensious displays and elaborate decoration. In fact, "flashiness" is a kind of status symbol- it proves that the dwarf is so successful that he/she can afford stuff that serves no practical purpose. It's the logical extrapolation really; before dwarves started trading, their status was most visibly determined by things like engravings on tools. It was proof that their land was productive enough that they had the spare time and the energy to do something like that.

What do you think of this idea?

[Gideon020]

I like your ideas for the Drow and Dragons and the Orcs as possible descendants from a 'Moon Kingdom' of sorts is intriguing while Dwarves flashing jewelry and the latest trends in fashion and other ostentious luxury goods is actually a nice change from the down to earth, spartan types of Dwarves seen in other fiction.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

Glad you like them all. In a side-note... I have the books at last! They showed up yesterday and I've been reading them ever since! Didn't bring the PH to work, but I should actually have a computer of my own soon enough so I'll be able to do this from home.

I also borrowed "Nanny Ogg's Cookbook & Etiquite Guide" from the library (yes, Nanny Ogg as in the pervy old witch from Discworld) and I started wondering... once the landmasses are done, should we do up an "etitiqutte guide" for the races of Aeron? Discussing proper and improper behavior, tastes for decoration, and racial festivals and celebrations?

ALso, I looked over the list of gods, and I think we may need/want to make our own pantheon for this setting. I'll give details on the core pantheon (name, portfolio, symbols and commandments) when I have the chance.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

Just thought it was time I actually posted something. In terms of directions, I'm using the "unfurled map" format- the world is a sphere, but maps are square, so everything is "unfurled" so it fits the right space. Check any atlas and you should get a visual of what I'm trying to say.

Names are just "placeholders"; real names are needed, but I'm not much good at names.

The Northen Tundra
The northenmost continent on all of Aeron, the Tundra stretches from the northen pole of the planet (a roughly spherical segment of land) in a southeastern direction, narrowing to a point. It roughly looks like the silhoutte of an icecream cone positioned top at northeast to bottom at southwest, except the "eastern" side extrudes a number of jagged protrusions at random intervals. All in all, the Tundra is roughly 1.8 times the size of Russia. The Tundra earns its name because the majority of it is icy grassland and the occasional forest of evergreens, bar at the pole itself (massive glaciers and icecaps) and the eastern "ledges", which are forested mountain ridges.

The dominant race of the Tundra is humanity, and some other races claim that humans actually emerged from the Tundra before spreading to the other continents of Aeron. Elven tribes inhabit the ledges as well, as do small tribes of "pacifist" ogres (see below). The existence of other races is marginal and generally restricted to the few port-cities on the western coast- the predominant race of outlanders, thusly, is dwarven. Raiding bands of frost giants and ice elemental servants, such as ice archons, occasionally emerge from the northen pole, most commonly in winter, but the main threats are in the form of the various predators that stalk the Tundra; dire wolves, cave bears and other mega-fauna. On rare occasion, the mines of the mountain-dwelling humans delve too deep and breach the Underdark. Should they survive, the humans invariably abandon the site.

The humans of the Tundra divide themselves into two civilisations; the plains-tribes and the mountain-tribes.

The plains-tribes are the more numerous faction, an untold number of tribes wandering nomadically across the tundra, gathering what they need and hunting the various mega-fauna, such as auroches, megalocerous and even mammoth, for sustenance. The plains-tribes have a kind of uneasy truce with their settled, mountain-dwelling kinsfolk, trading meat, fur, leather and ivory in exchange for the metalworks (primarily weapons) that only the mountain-tribes can forge. This truce has extended to the outlander-created ports, with plainsmen coming to them to trade, or occasionally to seek passage on a ship to the 'southlands'. Plainsmen are proud and independant figures, and prone to be suspicious of others. As a general rule of thumb, the more northerly the tribe's home range, the more suspicious and aggressive they're likely to be.

The mountain-tribes dwell is fortified villages, almost invariably centered around a mine from which they carry coal and iron ore. They do have some level of domestication and crop-usage, but hunting and trading are still vital sources of meat and warmth for them. They are more isolationist and wary than their nomadic kinsfolk of the plains, as they rarely see others bar when conducting trade. While they invariably fortify their village well so that they can withstand seige by predators or raiders, few villages are designed with the intent of truly settling in one place; it's all too common for mountain-folk to pack up their goods and leave when an area proves unable to sustain them any further, or too hostile for their taste. These abandoned villages can be quite eerie to any outsider who encounters them.

The 'ledges' of the Tundra are home to ogres, but unlike in other lands the ogres of the Tundra seem almost... peaceful. They are wary of other races and can be dangerously unpredictable, but in general Tundra ogres that encounter other beings will let them pass by unmolested. Think of them as being akin to mountain gorillas; if the whim takes them, they can be lethal, but generally they're more interested with going their own way than tearing heads off. Some ogres, ranging from individuals to whole tribes, even forge beneficial pacts of mutual alliance with mountain-tribers. It is far from unknown for half-ogres or even ogre-blood families to hold positions of great respect within a mountain tribe.

Though the men of the Tundra would rarely admit it, some of their people do fall into the worst darkness; these despicable outcasts forge pacts of alliance with the demons of the Infernum for aid in surviving the harsh lands of the Tundra. Entire tribes have become 'infected' in this manner, and they are the enemies of all non-tainted Tundramen. Because of this, tieflings are despised, feared and hated, and it will take much effort for such a tainted being to gain anything resembling trust from a human of the Tundra.

The nomadic lifestyle means that wizards tend to be rare in the Tundra; most are elven or outlanders, though a few mountain-folk do develop the skill. Surprisingly, divine magic users are almost as rare; the hardy, proud and practical people of the Tundra tend to lack organized religion. The most common form of metaphysics practitioner amongst the tribes is the entity known to them as "the shaman"- what in other lands is called the Warlock. While actual gods are a rarity amongst the tribes, most believe in the existence of 'spirits', and the warlock is tasked with being an intermediary between them. In the plains-tribes, the spirits are those of the sky and the stars (Star Pact), while the mountain-tribes naturally have a deep respect for the fey (Fey Pact). In tainted tribes, naturally, warlocks wield Infernal Pacts.

Few have ever ventured towards the pole, but legends circulate amongst the plains-tribes of places that could only be described as "ice jungles"; lush regions thronged with plants that appear similar to those that flourish in the rainforests of the southlands, yet which thrive amidst the bitter ice and cold as their counterparts thrive amidst the heat and damp. Further legends state that these ice jungles have inhabitants; strange, reclusive and savage tribes of elves according to some, while others claim the presence of eerie and ruthless eladrin, venerators of alien gods of ice and death and cruelty.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

I forgot to mention this earlier: in this setting, tieflings aren't the result of a direct pact like they are in the corebooks, but are due to something I call "taint". Different to Corruption (the energy of sin and mutation from the Infernum), taint 'builds up' in the soul of anyone exposed to demonic energy, whether by being near a demon-crafted spell (such as an Infernal Warlock's magic) or coming into close proximity with a demon or demon-bound item. This energy doesn't affected the tainted person, but is passed on to their children, randomly twisting an unborn child into a tiefling.

As I mentioned, taint is seperate from corruption and completely random; an Infernal Warlock so corrupt that she is all but a demon herself may give birth to a completely human son, while a Paladin who was onced forced to wield a possessed sword to save himself might find himself the shocked father of a tiefling daughter.

Only humans and human-blooded beings seem to be able to carry 'taint'. Tieflings that breed with others of their kind tend to produce tieflings, though they may produce apparently ordinary humans ("carriers", in essence) instead. In a mixed race coupling, tieflings count as 'humans' for terms of hybridisation, assuming that their blood doesn't dominate. Essentially, a tiefling who beds an elf may create either a half-elf child, or a purely tiefling child.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

I admit I had a bit of "Dragonmech" on the brain while I was thinking this up, but I hope you'll forgive that.

The Moon Wastes
In the ancient past, this area was a continent roughly the size of North America, not the largest area in the northern hemisphere of Aeron, but certainly the most hospitable. That all changed when the Great Catastrophe occured and the lost moon was pulled from orbit to smash into the very heartland of the Moon Wastes. The impact shattered the continent, which was already honeycombed with subterranean faults and fissures, and allowed the sea to sweep in and drown the injured land. Now, the Wastes appears as less an island and more a great maze of rocky outcroppings and land-shards jutting from the turbulent sea. In places there exist larger pieces of land, mesas, though rarely more than one or two miles across. The Waste is located in roughly the central west of the northern hemisphere of Aeron.

With no land worthy of the name, most would avoid this place even if it weren't for the strange mystical phenomena that throng here, the legacy of the magocracy that destroyed the Wastes, or the ravening tides of aberrations and other monstrosities, creatures whose presence is attributed to the moon's fall. Yet, people do come here- drawn by greed, curiosity or foolish pride, seeking to reclaim whatever ancient relics and lost lore might have survived the destruction. Few return, and of those who do, barely half of those are lucky enough to have returned with their sanity, let alone any treasure. Yet, there is the occasional lucky fool upon whom the gods smile, returning with sufficient artefacts to ensure others will risk the journey.

Little is known about what lies in the deepest parts of the Wastes, and what is known has mostly been extrapolated from the ravings of madmen. Common themes include drowned cities, miraculously intact, and the great "inland sea" where the moon first struck, lashed by eternal storms of equal parts nature and magic.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

Dwarfhold
The lands known as "Dwarfhold", not surprisingly, are the homeland of the dwarves. An archipelo of about a dozen islands, the largest of which is the size of Ireland and is positioned at the southernmost end, Dwarfhold is positioned in the southeast of the northen hemisphere, making it the most temperate of the northen lands. That doesn't make life here much easier though; the ground on most of the islands is sparse and barren, forcing those who would attempt to use it for agricultural purposes to scratch a living. Stunted but hardy shrubs and coarse grains provide the majority of the cultivated plantlife, while animal husbandry is mostly restricted to goats.

For a long time, dwarves were a poor and desperate race, until the day now celebrated as "The First Trade", when a dwarf allowed the crew of a ship that had beached itself upon his land to take sufficient materials to repair it in exchange for a supply of iron tools (there being no raw materials to permit forging before then). These he then traded to neighbouring dwarves, thus becoming the first Tradelord.

So it is in the modern day that the Dwarfhold is divided amongst a number of clans, each competing with the other to prove itself the most prosperous. Dwarves still farm the bleak land, but these form a caste of serfs- unworthies who had no choice but to take this job in order to survive. Though their riches primarily come from trading, the number of dwarven pirates is not small- though officially vilified by the clans, in truth the vast majority of such "renegade ships" are actually working under the direct order of their Tradelord in order to acquire goods cheaply, raise prices and destroy rivals.

Dwarfhold is predominantly home to dwarves, though a small number of humans and half-dwarves* do have positions amongst the clans. The only other race indigenous to the archipelo are goblins... roughly every third or fourth island is infested with them. In times of unity, the clans would establish guards to keep them contained or, if neccessary, cull them. In other times (like the present), the state of tension and/or mutual dislike between the clans means that they cannot organise things... which allows the goblins to sweep out from their holes to make raids on neighbouring islands. Which tends to make things worse, as the affected clans aren't above claiming that some rival/neighbour actually encouraged the goblins to target their holding (and some of the clans would indeed do that!).


*Yes, you read that right. Half-dwarf. As in, half human, half dwarf. Why should humans be able to crossbreed only with elves? They're inspired a bit by the Muls of Dark Sun, but minus the 'tragic baggage' (human mothers tend to die in childbirth, they're sterile, outsiders in both cultures). Besides, given that Aeron dwarves A: are open, outgoing and friendly, and B: are natural traders and explorers, it seems likely that mixed-race relationships of varying levels could form, which in turn gives the opportunity for a hybrid race to develop. Don't you agree?

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

I was contemplating putting up the details for the classes... but I wasn't sure precisely what details I should put up, so I decided to leave it until this topic reaches that area. Here instead are some of the gods from the Player's Handbook so you can decide whether or not they're appropriate for Aeron.

Name
Alignment
Portfolio (what it's actually the god of)
Symbol
-Commandments

Avandra
Good
Change, Luck, Travel, Trade, Freedom, Adventure, The Frontier
Three horizontal green waves
-Luck favorus the bold; take your fate into your own hands, and Avandra smiles upon you.
-Strike back against those who would rob you of your freedom and urge others to fight for their liberty.
-Change is inevitable, but see that it is directed towards the better.

Bahamut
Lawful Good
Justice, Protection, Nobility, Honour, (Metallic Dragons)
The outline of a dragon's head
-Uphold the highest ideals of justice and honor.
-Be constantly vigilant against evil and oppose it on all fronts.
-Protect the weak, liberate the oppressed and defend just order.

Corellon
Unaligned
Spring, Beauty, The Arts, Arcane Magic, (Eladrin and the Fey)
An eight-pointed star, the top and bottom points of greater length than the side points
-Cultivate beauty in all things that you do, irregardless of their purpose.
-Seek out lost magic and works of art.
-Thwart the followers of Lolth wherever possible.

Erathis
Unaligned
Civilisation, Invention, Laws
The upper half of a gear, the interior 'cut' in the upper half of a sun/starburst
-Work with others to achieve your goals; community and order are stronger than individuality.
-Tame the wilderness and protect civilisation.
-Seek out new frontiers and tame them.

Ioun
Unaligned
Knowledge, Skill, Prophecy
The upper part of a question mark blending into an eye design
-Seek the perfection of your mind by balancing reason, perception and emotion.
-Accumulate, preserve and distribute knowledge in all forms.
-Oppose the followers of Vecna and destroy their schemes.

The others I haven't detailed are Kord, Melora, Moradin, Pelor, The Raven Queen and Sehanine. Not to mention the gods of evil (Bane, Gruumsh, Tiamat, Torog, Vecna and Zehir- Asmodeus and Lolth being left out on purpose). This should be enough for you to get the basic gist though. As a final gift, here are the classes and their paragon paths.

Cleric
-Angelic Avenger
-Divine Oracle
-Radiant Servant
-Warpriest

Fighter
-Iron Vanguard
-Kensei
-Pit Fighter
-Swordmaster

Paladin
-Astral Weapon
-Champion of Order
-Hospitaler
-Justicar

Ranger
-Battlefield Archer
-Beast Stalker
-Pathfinder
-Stormwarden

Rogue
-Cat Burgler
-Daggermaster
-Master Infiltrator
-Shadow Assassin

Warlock
-Doomsayer (Star Pact)
-Feytouched (Fey Pact)
-Life-stealer (Infernal Pact)

Warlord
-Battle Captain
-Combat Veteran
-Knight Commander
-Sword Marshal

Wizard
-Battle Mage
-Blood Mage
-Spellstorm Mage
-Wizard of the Spiral Tower

[Gideon020]

That all looks pretty good, especially the classes.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

Alright, so you like those three landmasses of mine. I've got vague ideas for one more landmass, part of the southern hemisphere (where most of the lands are, in my mind's eye), but beyond that I've got nothing. Do you have any continent ideas?

Once continents are done, what shall we tackle next? Fuller details of races/cultures in Aeron, perhaps including race/culture-specific ettiquitte and foodstuffs? The gods of this world?

Also, this is something I've been wondering since I read the DM's Guide, which mentioned that the assumed default party is 5 members and thus a recommended min/max size is 4/6; do you think we should have the Nerimites acquire 1 or two native adventurers as members of their party? I mean, while there is some humour value in having them constantly ending up lost or in diplomatic trouble and other such mishaps due to their ignorance of Aeron, that can get kind of old. Not to mention that natives give us a free hand for "plot dumps"- that is, a way to explain certain things about our creation to the readers without breaking up the story.