Every character in the game comes from somewhere else, however, somewhere further south. Each comes with their own story. While these are not core to the Northern Marches gameplay, they can be as impactful to inter-character roleplay as each player decides to make them.
This entire process is optional - all characters arrive in the Northern Marches on equal footing and without rank, prestige, or power from their far-flung former homes. For those players who wish to embellish their roleplay, this gives a way to share this opportunity and link with others.
- The character creation rules will point to this thread for anyone looking for optional inspiration.
- I will post any basic facts relevant to the gameworld and setting.
- After your character is approved, feel free to post your own facts about external cultures, norms, and beliefs from your character's background here as they might apply to other characters (not simply reposting your character's background). Keep it succinct.
- This list operates on a "yes, and" model. There is as much variety in outside lands as we desire. New characters can choose to link to things already listed here or develop their own.
- Dwarves live about twice as long as humans. Elves only live three times as long as humans.
- The Iron Hills lies to the east of the Southern Kingdoms and are home to innumerable dwarven holds engaged in complex clan-based struggle between them and unified action by them against the dragons that seem to proliferate there. (details generated by players as necessary)
- The Midnight Forests lie to the west of the southern kingdoms and hold a variety of elven communities and sub-cultures. (details generated by players as necessary)
- Far to the west beyond the elves, along the coast of the Great Sea, are the Khalorrim, humans of an entirely different linguistic group. With sub-groups of both coastal raiders and inland horselords, they have strong ties to Law and sun-worship, but their own peculiar forms of jurisprudence and justice.
- There are demi-human enclaves throughout all of the southlands (details generated by players as necessary).
- There are three Deities whose worship has widely spread through the human kingdoms - Baudh, Gwanwen, and Euranna.
- History "began" again 2,020 years ago, a date chosen by the Priests of Baudh roughly coinciding with the crowning of the first human king with divine sanction.
- It is known that a magical cataclysm occurred some thousands of years earlier, nearly destroying life and from which the world still is recovering. The Gods do not discuss it, and no records are known.
- There are a number of human kings and kingdoms in the Southern lands, each ruling by divine right granted by the god, Baudh, who predominates in cities and cultural centers. Worship of Gwanwen predominates in more rural regions. Euranna's followers move everywhere, particularly among the dispossessed and disenfranchised, without any particular locus.
- Each deity has an Order for its faithful -- those who have shown their mettle in the struggles of the world and dedicated themselves to the cause of that deity. The Order of Knights, common among nobility, require rites to Baudh. The Reapers of the Harvest, or Reapers, follow Gwanwen. The Poor Fellows of the Temple, or Templars, swear vows to Euranna.
- ArchDuke Gaul was an ambitious minor noble in the southern kingdoms and sent north, granted title over the "northern wastes" with little expectation of success.
- The ArchDuke's offer of wealth and opportunity to any who come north and seek it was communicated through all cathedrals of Baudh throughout the southlands.
- The Songs of Gaul are public knowledge - the result of minstrels and bards passing the tales, legends, and excitement occurring in the north across the south, and are considered fair-game for any new arriving player character to have heard before arrival.
- The previous world ended in magical cataclysm, and displays of powerful magic make most normal people uneasy or outright fearful.
- Magic is inherent in the world and naturally occurs when souls impact on places and things; most people have seen this low-intensity magic and regard it as normal.
- Magic Users are considered "willworkers," able to use the same principles and their own potent soul to impose more powerful impacts on the world.
- Demonology allows impacts on the world through the channeling of extraplanar energy through one's soul, but is tainted to evil by the nature of that energy. Infernal influence is "easy power" for the seduceable and desperate and commonly feared by the population.
- Gwanwen, who governs the natural balance, defines willworking itself as unnatural and unbalanced. Rural communities therefore often conflate Magic Users and the Infernal as "witches," dealing with them similarly.
- Baudh, who governs power and law, differentiates and supports willworking Magic Users who use their considerable discipline for the cause of order. Thus, codified Schools of Magic exist in urban settings.
- Eruanna, who governs truth and mercy, is the tireless foe of all things infernal as they are diametrically opposed to her domain. She differentiates and supports willworking Magic Users who act with their own souls for the cause of good.
- Elves, by virtue of their innate magic and their attunement to nature itself, generally do not consider their actions to be "willworking" but instead as a natural extension of harmony with the laws of the world. Using magic against the cause of harmony or nature is considered abhorrent among elven culture as a result.