World
“Know, oh prince, that long ago there was an age of madness, when hungry spirits ruled the world and preyed upon the dreams of man. Yet after a time men learned to bar even the greatest spirits, and with new found might rose and cast of their shackles, giving birth to forgotten kingdoms of bright steel and sharp enchantment. Alone of these we remember ancient Meluha, whose cities covered this land like jewels, gleaming in the sun. For a thousand years there reigned an age of splendour and untold power, of proud men who feared nothing.”
“Ultimately, all things come to an end, and nothing now remains of once mighty Meluha but crumbling ruins and scattered fragments of lore. We know little of why they fell, only that in struggling to avert their doom they rent the Earth asunder, and unchained the seas of magic. Arcane tides swelled, and horror slipped through once barred gates, scouring away civilization. Our ancestors survived this cataclysm by hiding in isolated demesnes, and returning only once the high tide had ebbed. But inexorably the flow of magic returned, and with it unspeakable horrors that feast upon men.”
“Ages have passed marked by the tides, and haltingly the kingdoms of man have rebuilt in the fickle lull between. Some fell anew when the tides returned — drowned Visaltia, Oresk of the pillars, Arzara lost beneath the sands, and many now forgotten. Yet others have weathered the tempest — Thematia, Damot, Orichal, Peleset with its towers of brass, the pattern kingdoms of Shekemesh, Qadesh with its horror marked necropolis, Lu where tigers walk as men, Sutj whose riders bear steel and silk and horn, Polovchya in whose secret citadels days may last months, Jhelum where deathless priests rule from temples of jade.”
- The Meluhan Chronicles
- A World dominated by men, with nations based upon historical cultures and myths, not DnD.
- Nations control Geomantic sources of power to shape the world around them.
- As the tides of magic subside the world is much like Earth.
- As the tides swell sprits slip from the otherworld, seizing control of Geomantic Fonts to shape the world for their own ends.
- History plays a strong role, so that past ages may shape the present, and the present can become legend.
- Many aspects of the world and cataclysm are a mystery. Seek knowledge and power by uncovering the past.
Jasper Phillips