Topic 1 - world organization

Note: My general philosophy is to create a fantasy world that is coherent and consistent for the sake of believability, and then drop the PCs into a time period in that world's history in which they have the opportunity to do something that matters. What the PCs then do with that opportunity is left up to the players.


What the world is, why it exists, and what other worlds exist
The greatest magic in all of existence is the Music of the Ainur, a metaphor in Tolkien for an Art performed by the Gods before the beginning of Time and which is fundamental to all of existence; without it, there would be no multiverse, no space, and no time. Because it exists both inside of Time as well as without it, this Music can alter the universe in time as well as in space, allowing one to alter the past and future as well as the present. In essence, the story of the world dictated by the Music is what mortals refer to as fate and destiny, and the ability to alter the Music allows you to change fate, downgrade it to destiny, or erase it altogether. Most of the really significant lesser magic as well, in particular the ability to resurrect the dead, depends on destiny and thus directly on the Music, as that determines how difficult it is (or if it is even possible) to resurrect somebody.

The Music, like any real music, is overlapping and can contain multiple simultaneous melodies. In this world, sages refer to this in terms of Themes. The "Theme" in the Music refers to the divine plan for which the universe exists; it is destiny. By now, with the different gods and in some cases mortals trying to alter the Music, there are multiple versions of the Music out there, and, consequently, multiple versions of the world, past, present, and future. Unlike planes of existence, however, which are fundamentally separate, Themes can overlap: a person or place can exist in multiple Themes alike, multiple histories of a person or an object can all be true in their respective Themes, and so on. If a single Theme were to expand through the space of the multiverse and supplant out all of the other Themes, then it would establish itself as the only true reality, and this arguably is the goal of any particular religion.

In addition to performances of the Music itself, religious acts, or acts consistent with religions, and the Themes that go with those religions and responsible for the truths behind those religions, tend to spread Themes. The Theme of the Hylarin religion (containing the New Elven Covenent), for example, is a Theme featuring a world that is filled with heroes, wonders, and adventure, and the things that heroes and adventures need to have in order to be heroes or have adventures (i.e. heroes need to have villains). Thus, heroic actions within or in areas contributed to by this Theme's dominion will cause this Theme to become stronger, and unheroic actions will weaken it in favor of other Themes.


What exists in the world
Because of the Music's influence of destiny (see below), universe is divided into entities that I refer to as "units", a concept borrowed from various kinds of computer and board games, although a unit in this case has a more general meaning than the military units that such games use. A unit, for example, could be a band of nomads, a city, a specific district within a city, an institution such as a university, temple, or government, a non-spatially confined but geographically limited entity such as a guild, a diffuse population of people or other creatures that inhabit a general area but whose population centers are not important, and, yes, as the origin of the word implies, an actual military unit.

Everybody and everything living in the world belongs to a unit of some kind, although they may not know it and may do things seemingly contrary to the unit to which they belong (e.g. if a unit is a city, then there will be criminals in it inherent in the city itself). Membership in units is generally important as it determines several things in the game world, including (1) the availability and abundance of magic, (2) what happens when you resurrect (or try to resurrect) a dead character, as well as general dynamics of politics, economics, social life, and so on that characters from kings to peasants to adventurers feel on a daily basis. Of course, membership in a unit is not necessarily static, and a person can easily belong to more than one unit at once. In extreme cases, this can result in magic being able to duplicate a character, as Tétirë was a duplicate of Aimienna in the original Jade Warrior game. In essence, units represent the collective destiny of peoples, and magic has ways of enforcing destiny, if need be (see above).


Magic in the world: a general distribution
Magic in my settings is distributed very unevenly. This is partially because of how units work, but I use this mechanic deliberately because of the way Tolkien's (and other) fantasy worlds are structured. In general, here is how it works:

Units which are magical, legendary, or otherwise special convey magic to other units they are near or that they interact with, even if the other units themselves are not magical. This makes sense at a personal level, as a city that has an arcane university in it, say, will be much more likely to sport a merchants' district that buys and sells magical wares, as well as is much more likely to have some form of magical protections over their shops (and would-be thieves having magical ways of circumventing them). A city without such a university or other magical unit will have much less magic floating around, and an entire country composed of such units (such as the Shire or Rohan in the Lord of the Rings) could be excused for believing that magic doesn't even exist, only to get a rude surprise later when they find out that it does!

Apart from the Music, there can be multiple types of magic in the world, or alternatively there could be no magic whatsoever, although most Themes allow for some form of lesser magic able to affect the world without altering the Music directly. However, the distinctions between lesser types of magic often gets quite blurry; in some Themes, arcane magic, divine magic, and psionics, are, respectively, fundamentally different things, even to the point of being unable to interact with each-other (e.g. arcane Detect Magic cannot detect divine spells and vice-versa), and in other Themes, there is no distinction whatsoever, with wizards able to cast divine spells and clerics able to use psionics, the only distinction between the classes being their common modus opperendi with priests being servants of a particular deity or pantheon and wizards bartering for power with any entity that fits their alignment or even just stealing said power from entities that don't match their alignments.

The magic rules used in the setting assume that different types of magic is somewhat blurry (caster levels stack), but at the same time somewhat distinct (different classes get different mana pools, and multiclass characters cannot mix pools). This is true of most Themes.


Distribution of power levels, magic, and abundances
In general, the way that people and similar characters exist follows the following rule: of any group of people that have at least a certain level, half will be of that level, and half will be at least one level higher. So, for example, if you have a town of 1,000 people and your base person is a first level commoner, then 500 of the members of the town will be first-level commoners, and half will be something more. If commoner were the only character class, then 250 would be second-level commoners, and the other 250 would be at least one level up. Do the math, and you will come out with about two tenth-plus-level people in a population of 1000.

People of higher level often are recognized for their abilities, although not always. For example, if you take an army of 10,000 soldiers and the army's leadership is at all meritocratic, then the officers of that army will be selected from people who have reached a certain level (my general rule for a lieutenant is 4th and a captain is 6th); however, not everybody will be recognized or even be inherently obvious, so there will be some very high-level privates. They will of course be armed with standard issue equipment, but will be a good deal more dangerous than your green first-level soldier.

Now, I mentioned character classes. Character classes are arranged on an ECL system basically as follows: commoners have an ECL adjustment of -3, and other NPC classes of -1. In addition, not having elite array or equivalent ability scores is an ECL of -1, meaning that a first-level commoner is CR -3 using my exponential CR system (note: a -3 CR on an exponential scale is identical to the CR 1/4 in the DMG; you need four of them to equal one CR 1 first-level PC). In general, commoners don't gain more levels of commoner as they gain experience; they "graduate" to better classes that replace their commoner levels. Warriors will eventually do the same as they become fighters, as will adepts as they become clerics or druids, although the transformation may happen above first-level.


Destiny, fate, free will, and chance
The Music allows for four different phenomena to determine the course of events, these being destiny, fate, free will, and chance. I now will describe each:

Destiny are events that take place because it is part of the divine plan for them to take place, but they take place as a sort of a test or workaround for other situations. You can throw away your destiny and cast it aside, or even fail to fulfill it; doing so may not be a good idea, but it can happen. In general, destiny is what guides the actions of a party of world-saving PC heroes: the enemy they are up against is rightfully too powerful for anybody, let alone a half a dozen heroes, to defeat, but they can do this impossible task because it is their destiny. Of course, they could also fail, if they make the wrong choices, or the dice go the wrong way, or the GM is sufficiently mad at the players, etc.

Fate is like destiny except that it is immutable: it is written into the Music that something will happen, and nothing short of altering the Music itself can change, avert, or rewrite it. Fate is decidedly player-unfriendly; an adventure involving fate would likely revolve around preventing the villain from altering the Music and thereby causing fate.

Free Will represents events that a character can change through their own actions. There may be limits to what they can do - you're probably not going to stand up against the God of Evil and win if all you've got going behind you is free will, but you still are fundamentally the master of your own destiny. Free will is marginally player friendly, depending on the nature of the game; if the threat is dire enough that you have to save the world from it, then you probably need destiny on your side to help out, but saving the village from the bandits might not require something so grand.
Chance is necessary for stat-based gaming, but it is also horrible from a story prospective, possibly even worse than fate. Like free will, chance is unpredictable, but unlike free will and like fate, there is nothing you can do about it. As a player and sometimes as a GM, you can't of course control how the dice roll, but that's probably what chance should be to PCs.

Topic 2 - GM notes on stats and races

Stats, PC and NPC
You've probably noticed by now that not every character has the same stats, even if you've never peeked inside of the DMG. The fact is that different people are different in terms of their native abilities, and some are just better than others. PCs in general have better ability scores than most people of most races, well, most of the time. See races below. Moreover, unlike as implied in the PHB and DMG, ability scores are not independent of each-other: people with one high score tend to have other high scores as well.

Players should note that NPC ability score distributions are created using the philosophy described below, but PCs will, for a variety of reasons, use point-buy systems. PCs also don't have to worry about a number of other unbalancing things that NPCs do, such as sexual dimorphism, as well.

In general ability scores of a person depend on three factors: the person's genes (nature), the person's upbringing and choices of how to develop their abilities (nurture), and unpredictable events that happen to a person during development or childhood that alter their attributes (chance). Nature is generally the most important of these three factors in determining ability scores at character creation, mainly because the things described by nurture and chance are the things other than ability scores (i.e. character class and class customizations). In a simple model, I could generally explain a person's ability scores with six independent traits, listed approximately in order of importance in terms of how much of individual variation in ability scores that each explains, as follows:
-Fitness, this trait relates to the quality and health of a person's underlying physiology. It positively affects all six ability scores, since physiology underlies everything (this is why you can't think straight when you are tired or have a cold, for example, despite that both of those should be constitution-dependent ailments and not intelligence or wisdom-based). People with higher fitness have higher ability scores, period. Most of the variation in ability scores in humans is probably due to either fitness or eccentricity. Elves and dwarves usually have high fitness, humans and halflings somewhat average, and orcs have surprisingly low fitness.
-Eccentricity is a trait that affects mental ability scores. Eccentric characters have high intelligence and low charisma, while uneccentric characters have the opposite. In-between characters usually have the highest wisdom scores. Dwarves are usually more eccentric than the norm for the other races, but most of the others are not particularly shifted one way or the other.
-Coordination is a trait that positively affects both dexterity and wisdom, but does little to the other scores. Elves tend to be quite well-coordinated, with some breeds of orc (although not goblins) being very un-coordinated. Humans are slightly sub-average, possibly the only trait in which humans are not perfectly average.
-Jockiness is the trait that causes a person to vary in mental versus physical attributes. A high jockiness increases strength, dexterity, and constitution, while reducing intelligence, wisdom, and charisma. A low jockiness does the opposite. Dwarves and orcs tend to be jocky; elves and halflings less than average, although not a whole lot less.
-Ruggedness, a trait that determines how well your body is built to be able to do, versus what it is able to take. A rugged character will have a high constitution, and a lower dexterity. Very high ruggedness or very low ruggedness tend to lead to high strength as well. A low-ruggedness high-performance character will have a low constitution, high dexterity, and often a high wisdom. Elves and goblins generally have very low ruggedness, dwarves and orcs the converse, with humans and halflings somewhere in the middle.
-Flashiness, something I use to describe the swashbuckling rogue, very smart and very charismatic, but not very wise. All of the races have about the same average flashiness, but elves tend to be much more variable than the other races.
--Also, as a general rule, men tend to be jockier, flashier, and more rugged, while women tend to be better coordinated.

So, how does this work in practice? Well, suppose I'm going to make an NPC named Celeyaviel, a Hylarin wand-maker in Elendell. She might have traits that look something like this:
Fitness 13
Eccentricity 12
Coordination 13
Jockiness 9
Ruggedness 7
Flashiness 14

Strength = (Fitness + Jockiness + (|10 - Ruggedness| / 2) / 2 = (13 + 9 + 1.5) / 2 = 22.5/2 = 11
Dexterity = (Fitness + Coordination + Jockiness + (21* - Ruggedness)) / 4 = (13 + 13 + 9 + (21 - 7)) / 4 = 49 / 4 = 12
Constitution = (Fitness + Jockiness + Ruggedness) / 3 = (13 + 9 + 7) / 3 = 29 / 3 = 10
Intelligence = (Fitness + Eccentricity + (21* - Jockiness) + Flashiness) / 4 = (13 + 12 + 21 - 9 + 14) / 4 = 51 / 4 = 13
Wisdom = (Fitness + Coordination + (21* - Jockiness) + (21* - Flashiness)) / 4 = (13 + 13 + 12 + 7) / 4 = 45 / 4 = 11
Charisma = (Fitness + (21* - Eccentricity) + (21* - Jockiness) + Flashiness) / 4 = (13 + 9 + 12 + 14) = 47 / 4 = 12

*I use 21 here instead of 18 because using 21 will get the same 10.5 average at a trait value of 10.5 that a 3d6 will.

Obviously, I want a computer to do this, and fitness in particular is horrendously unbalanced. PCs will us a point-buy system with regular ability scores. Their high fitness would be accounted for by the fact that they have well above the standard array's point value (15) in ability scores!

Note also that all races are equal. The PHB tries to make the player character races approximately equal in terms of raw abilities in order to preserve game balance, but this really only applies to the PCs themselves. Some races are individually just better than others, while others make up for it with faster breeding rates, thereby compensating with quantity what they lack in quality. You will notice in the above section that elves and dwarves tend to have high fitness, for example. This means that their ability scores are generally just better than a human's (and, in particular, a human adventurer using a 25-point buy is well above the average for humans, but an elf is, well, quite average - which makes sense from a roleplaying prospective, as most elves are adventurers at some point in their lives).

In NPC design, elves and dwarves usually get a +1ECL adjustment if they have NPC classes. The higher ability scores that humans get for having PC classes are equivalent to this ECL adjustment, and thus elves and dwarves with PC classes do not get this adjustment (they do not get additional ability score boosts).

Appendix: point buy and rolling systems
The elite array (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8) is a 25-point buy.
The non-elite array (13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8) is a 15-point buy.
The standard array (11, 11, 11, 10, 10, 10) is a 15-point buy.
The superman array (18, 18, 18, 18, 18, 18) is a 96-point buy. For reasons that should be obvious from the above section (namely, trade-offs), I don't ever want to see anybody use one of these.

Rolling systems:
-Straight 3d6 gives an ability score average of a 15-point buy, but it's extremely variable. You will often get ability scores wildly different from a 15-point buy.
-3d6 twice for each ability score, but taking only the higher of the two, will give a 20-point buy or so on average, but again is ludicrously variable.
-4d6, dropping the lowest, which is the most common "random" PC generation system, approximates a 25-point buy on average, but it also is extremely variable.

My general suggestion for rolling NPCs: first, use Microsoft Excel and make a spreadsheet with number calculators. Enter "=1 + trunc(rand()*6, 0)" in a cell to roll a d6. (rand generates a random number between 0 and 1, and trunc truncates the number [rounding toward zero] to a number of decimal places given by the second argument, which is a zero, meaning it will round to integers). You can add cells together using the sum function, or by just typing the additions. You can copy formulas in groups so that they move together with the copy. For dropping the lowest d6, sum the four dice together, and then subtract using the min function (min gets you the smallest value in the array selected). What I do to roll random ability scores for NPCs is to roll my selected dice method (3d6 or 4d6-drop lowest) three times, and take the median value, using the median function. This generates the same averages as straight rolling, but with much less variation.

Additional fun with numbers: 3d6 will roll an 18 in one out of every 216 rolls, if the dice are truly random, which most dice aren't (it's very difficult to make perfectly unweighted dice). This means that you have a roughly 1 / 64 trillion chance of rolling six 18s in a row.

Topic 3 - the DMG and monster manual

Players ordinarily are not supposed to know what is in the DMG or the monster manual. Nonetheless, we all have the books, and some of us are quite familiar with them, often because we are GMs ourselves in our own games. The solution I have for this is to change what's in the DMG and the monster manual, without notifying the players. This means that they will know what is in the core books, but not the "books" that I'm using!

As a reminder, the following things are contained in the DMG and monster manual:

-The experience tables. This is useful for controlling the rate of character advancement, and often necessary in combat-heavy story-driven campaigns in which the story XP awards are justifiably large.

-The wealth and treasure tables. DMs should be wary about changing the wealth tables too much, since altering the frequency of magic items changes the balance of characters in the party: casters have more to gain from XP, and fighters have more to gain from better equipment, and as a consequence altering the rate at which equipment improves with level tends to unbalance things.

-The CR system, which is part of the experience system. I actually do share this with players, since I like my system better (see the corresponding article), and it's useful for players to gauge their characters, as well as solve some of the nastier multiclassing problems.

-The monsters, of course. Players who have experienced me will know me well for having variant monsters that they're not familiar with. However, here are some of the general guidelines that I use for monsters and monster creation:


Monster theory
Monsters in D&D are generally grouped into four categories, which are as follows:

Critters, which are dangerous because they have good combat stats (attack bonus, hit points, AC, damage), but not a lot of special abilities. However, they're also usually not too intelligent, and so don't usually work in groups. Most animal-type monsters fall into this category.

Toughs, which are similar to critters, but tend to be smart and tend to work in groups, sometimes with other types of monsters. The party's fighter is basically a PC version of a tough. Most humanoids and giants are toughs, as are a handful of magical beasts. Undead are usually a variant tough with a specific weakness (namely, you can turn them), although some of the more powerful undead are better described as fiends.

Terrors, which are dangerous because of their special abilities. These can be stealth, movement abilities, or, more commonly, spells or spell-like powers. The defining characteristic however is that, while terrors can be cunning, they are not devious; they do not design elaborate traps for the PCs to fall into, and they do not work with other monsters very well. Most magical beasts are terrors, as are some undead, and many plant monsters.

Fiends, which are usually the most dangerous type of all, are loaded with special abilities as well as work well with other creatures, usually in a master-subserviant role. Alternatively, they can have traps (as toughs can). Human spellcasters and assassins, as well as dragons and outsiders, almost always function as fiends. Some of these (like dragons) are quite capable as toughs as well, but their special abilities make them really dangerous.


Monster practice
Information in the monster manual about monsters that would be classified as toughs is generally pretty accurate. It would not make sense for your standard orc to have many spell-like powers, for example; the worst I would do is juggle his stats a bit. On the other hand, terrors and, especially, fiends, will often be quite different from what the monster manual describes. Keep this in mind if you ever face a dragon.

Also, remember spell research. PC spellcasters can do it, NPCs can too. NPC spellcasters will not uncommonly have spells you've never seen before. Having your arsenal of the same will be useful!

Dragons in particular:
The colors of dragons that you're familiar with are best described as breeds, like the breeds of dog, and not separate species. THis means that a large fraction, if not most, dragons, are actually some kind of hybrid. Of course, some kinds of dragons are a lot more likely to hybridize than others (gold with silver is pretty common; gold with red is not so common).

Monsters and critical hits
A lot of monsters are not subject to critical hits in the monster manual. This is difficult to believe for several reasons. In general, think about monsters you encounter, and what might be vulnerable to critical hits and what might not. Here are some questions to think about:
-Eyes and other sense organs are usually vulnerable. There might not be an unprotected brain behind that eye that you can kill it with, but if you do take out a monster's eyes, you have blinded it.
-Some undead have anatomy. Remember that a wooden stake through the heart will kill a vampire. What other undead are vulnerable to critical hits from specific weapons?
-Some elementals take on humanoid or bestial forms. They probably have anatomy, too (although you'll probably need more than mere steel to hit it).
-Is that glowing crystal powering that golem?
-What happens if you girdle a treant?
-Are robots constructs, or are they a new creature type (they definitely do have anatomy!)?

At the same time, rogues and other would-be-users of precision damage, also consider these:
-Where is the heart in a human? Is it in a different place in men and women? How do you tell where it is if the human is clad head to toe in body-obscuring robes? (note: a good rogue should know these things, but a novice might not)
-Once you've figured the above out, where is the heart in a centaur, in the human half or the horse half? If it has two hearts, do you need to stab only one, or do you need to get them both? (It has only one brain, you can be sure of that)
-Aberrations and outsiders do have anatomy, but do you know what it is? Do you know what's vital and what isn't (especially in outsiders)?

[This message has been edited by Beren V (edited 12-15-2011 @ 01:52 AM).]

Topic 4 - A general timeline

Ages

The history of Arda is divided into Ages. Ages are extended periods of time usually measured in millennia, which are punctuated by momentous events, often climactic wars between the forces of good and evil, that usually span the entire world. Ages come in two types, both of which are colloquially referred to as Ages (yes, this is confusing), but they are identifiable by their qualifiers: if an Age is associated with a race (e.g. Elves, Orcs, Men), then it is of the larger kind and includes multiple sub-Ages, which are associated with a number (First, Second, Third, Fourth). This is because the different numbered Ages generally refer to time in the reckoning of one of the races, usually the race for whom the more inclusive Age is named. Also, the numbered Ages are named vary from place to place - the Hylarin calendar accounts the events founding their empire and the rise of the Dark Prince as the boundary between two ages, despite the fact that the Dúnedain count that event in the midst of an Age.

This article mainly describes the larger Ages, the racial Ages. In the context of these larger Ages, it is important to understand the role of Fate and of the Music in determining Arda's history. In the original design of the multiverse played by the Ainur in the Timeless Halls, there were to have been two such Ages, an Age of Elves, followed by an Age of Men. The details of the 'fading' of the Elves and the rise to dominance of Men were left to destiny rather than fate - the Elves might be succeeded by Men just becoming more numerous and thus more noticeable without any actual decline in Elven society, or it might be that the Elves would have to be driven to extinction in order for Men to supplant them (the mechanism by which this happens possibly being genocide by the Men themselves). As it happened, the actual shift became much more complicated, geographically disparate, and was altered in various ways by the Gods (especially Melkor, but before he became obviously evil), who appended the Music, adding, among other things, a number of other Ages before, in-between, and after the Ages of Elves and Men.

They had to be circumspect or at least not complete in their editing of the plan of reality, however, because they do not possess complete knowledge of the Music, and one of the underlying features of the Music from before the beginning was that Men have the freedom to determine what will come after them. As a consequence, the different ages that have been added to occur after the Age of Men are subject to the choices of Men themselves and cannot be written into the Music by anyone, even all of the Gods together, because their understanding of the nature of the Music is fundamentally incomplete. Men can, of course, be predisposed to making choices that will lead to different subsequent Ages, of course, and even mortal diviners can scry the future, or, more accurately, possible futures, into the Age of Men and beyond, but unlike scrying before this point where inaccuracies in the visions provided by the scries were usually the fault of misinterpretation by the diviner, these subsequent scries, especially into the distant future, can represent false prophecies due to the uncertain nature of destiny, and thus quite simply be wrong.

To give an idea of the scale, what the Dúnedain and Noldor refer to as the First Age of the World is really merely the First Age of Men, although it cannot be argued that this period was still a part of the Age of Elves, and not the first part, as Elves predate Men by many thousands of years. The Second Age of the Dúnedain, spanning 3443 years, is widely regarded as the transition time between the Ages of Men, of Orcs, and of Elves, although officially the end of the Age of Elves is said to have ended with the First Age, although the Elves (especially the Noldor and Hylar) were not inactive during the Second Age (and the Hylar not inactive during the Third). The Third (3021 years) and Fourth Ages (end unspecified, but shorter) are widely regarded as belonging to the Age of Men throughout most of the world, although the Hylarin Elves would disagree, perhaps with good reason, as their civilization has remained in spite of the collapse of their brethren. In general, Ages of races should be thought of as lasting on the order of 10,000 years, based on the lengths of the Ages of Elves and Men, although some, like the Aboleths, were probably much longer.


Note: as you will see, elements of the standard D&D cosmology have been liberally added to, although made to fit into, Tolkien's universe.


Ages of the world (by race)

(Note: see Glossary below)

The Age of Aboleths - the Age of Aboleths took place before even the Gods who performed the Music entered creation. Rather, this Age was created, retroactively, by Melkor, who altered the Music in such a way as to rewrite the past before even He came into the universe (why He did this is unknown). How long this was, nobody knows, possibly not even the Aboleths themselves, but we do know that the Aboleths are aware that there was a time before even them, and in these forgotten eons the universe was populated by things even stranger than them, Elder Evils they call them. The Aboleths built great cites beneath the sea and beyond the stars, ruling ruling over time and space alike with their mysterious mental powers, before declining, some say gradually, and some say abruptly, shortly before the bulk of the Gods entered the world. Why this happened no one knows - it's possible that they were brought down in part by the first and most powerful of Dragonkind, but the Aboleths are subject to laws of the universe beyond the ken and unconcerned with the lives of Elves and Men or even of Dragons, and the true reason for the Aboleths' fall may reach beyond what mortals do understand, can understand, or even should understand.

The Age of Dragons - the Age of Dragons picked up where the Aboleths left off. The first of the Gods, Melkor among them, entered the world in the early part of the Age of Dragons or shortly before, but the Dragons, like the Aboleths, were created "in the past" by Melkor: they were already here when He "found" them, although at that time they were still young - great names such as Bahamut, Tiamat, and Quetzalcoatl were what we would call young adults by Dragon standards at the time. The Dragons rose swiftly and ferociously, forging a dominion of sheer elemental power over the dawning world, defeating the challenges that fate and the Gods set before them with cunning, might, and savagery, and vanquishing the last of the great Aboleth cities together with their otherworldly masters. Dragons reigned supreme for many thousands of years, developing great wisdom through their age-long lives but never creating what the mortal races would call civilization. At that time, the giants were living on Arda, but were still in scattered barbarian tribes, and the pre-human and pre-elven ancestors of the races that would later dominate the world had yet to even know any fire save that which the Dragons breathed.

The Age of Gods - The Age of Dragons came to an end when the different kindreds of Dragons warred upon one-another. The Dragons that worshipped that alien substance called metal that every so often fell from the sky were betrayed by their former allies who believed that their elemental origins came from the colors of light and darkness. The Dragons that personified the elements themselves were driven from the waking world by the Second Gods, divine beings with the same bodies of the First Gods, the Valar, who came In from beyond Time and Space. What followed was an age of Gods and Monsters, the surviving Dragons among them, who each vied over the world and the essences not only of the elements but also of the aspects of the lives of what would become Elves and Men. Terrifying hybrid monsters, but of familiar creatures, are relics of this era, and more than that, some of the fallen Dragons and Second Gods were imprisoned in Death that is not Death, and thus began the plague known as the undead.

The Age of Angels - With many of the Second Gods defeated or driven from the living world, the Gods' divine servants, many composed of the same unquenchable spirit as the First Gods themselves, and some not, built the first example of what mortals might call 'civilization', the first cities since the fall of the Aboleths two Ages before. The cities of the Angels stood for seven thousand years of peace, never growing, never dying. During this time, Melkor, who had been cast out of the Land of the Gods and the Angels for the mischief that He had played during the Age of Gods and before, had begun to cultivate what would be the standard for evil in ages hence. The Age of Angels came to a shattering end with a sudden invasion of the Angels' magnificent cities from those Angels who had followed Melkor - the Demons.

The Age of Demons - The Age of Demons is short-lived relative to the other Ages (although still an Age), and constituted a massive war between the Angels and the Demons. Although the Angels eventually beat back the Demonic invasion, their glorious cities had been ruined and destiny denied that they ever be rebuilt (not, at least, by Angels). The Demons themselves had been all but destroyed, although Melkor who had masterminded but at the same time kept a safe distance from the carnage, retreated to his fortress to plan his new round of horrors - the corruption of the Children, Elves and Men, whom he realized would live shortly.

The Age of Dwarves - Impatient over the things that the Gods had made and wishing to see something of the Children, the First God Aulë decided to create his own children, the Dwarves. The Age of Dwarves was also short-lived, although the Dwarves did build some of their first cities, for the Overpower who gave live to the Music that created the multiverse spoke to Aulë that they could exist, but only after the elders of the Children had themselves awakened. And so the Dwarves slept, but only for one more Age.

The Age of Giants - The first Giants, titanic beings who had lived as barbarian tribes during the Age of Dragons, had grown numerous during the Ages of Gods and Angels, serving as foot soldiers in the armies of the Angels and the Demons, the greatest of them, as old as the First Dragons, had been among the Second Gods during the Age of Gods. Now, with the Dwarves, the only race holding them back, gone, the civilizations of the Giants flowered. They built the first mortal-like temples to their Draconic and Elemental Gods, temples that still stand within the lands of the Hylar. The first Giant cities were noble and civilized, but as they grew older, one by one they began to sink into a corruption spreading from the north of the world, and most were eventually abandoned, or their citizenry "adopted" by the reviving evil power of the north, Melkor, who had gone from embodying chaos and freedom of spirit to being the very heart of evil. These mighty Giants were finally defeated by an invasion of the Gods and Angels, using celestial powers never seen again in the form of dancing lights in the skies seen by the newly awakened creatures of nature, the elders of the Children, the Elves.

The Age of Elves - The Elves came into being the descendants of an extinct ape of the northern forests, living at the foot of colossal mountains, but were plagued by the nightmarish terrors of Melkor's early attempts to corrupt them, that had provoked the War of the Powers, the war of the First Gods, in which Melkor was finally captured and imprisoned by the other Gods. Oromë the hunter and messenger of the Gods sought out the Elves, and brought three prophets of three kindreds to the land of the Gods, who then returned and bid their kindreds thither, but one of the prophets, Elwë, remained with most of his people in the middle continent, and built the first of the Elven civilizations, while the other kindreds built their kingdoms in the land of the Gods. The other Elven kindreds who had no prophets or who had rejected Oromë's summons followed suit, and for the first time most of Arda was populated by a sentient race. The Age of Elves lasted in peace for many thousands of years, but in the end Melkor, who was thought to have repented, was set free, and then gathered the aid of Ungoliant, an evil Second Goddess left over from the Age of Monsters destroyed the divine trees that gave live to the Elven civilizations in the divine land and, most importantly, seized the Silmarils, the symbols of the Goddess of Hope made by the greatest of Elf-smiths and hallowed by the King of the Gods. As Morgoth, as Melkor had now been dubbed by the Elves, fled back to his ruined fortress to rebuild it (only to find it partially rebuilt already by His Demonlord servant Sauron), a civil war erupted between the Elven kindreds in the Land of the Gods, as one of them, the Noldor, returned, chasing Morgoth, in a futile quest to recover the Silmarils by force of arms.

The Age of Orcs - Although the surviving Noldor would probably argue that the rest of the First Age and the arrival of Men is still part of the Age of the Elves, many others, among them the Hylar, would argue differently: this was the age of the Orcs, twisted and corrupted creatures made by Melkor from captured Elves in their original inland sea where they were born ages ago. Morgoth, now with all three Silmarils, was ultimately unassailable, although the Noldor could and did beat him back to the gates of the Hells of Iron where he dwelt with his Demons and other monsters. In the mean time, Men had awakened, and while some turned to the Elves, Morgoth corrupted others, and soon unleashed an assault that broke the "siege" of Hell, and proved that even the Elves and Men together could not stand the Orcs and wicked Men forever. In the end, two heroes, Beren and Lúthien, Lúthien an elf but a daughter of an Angel and Beren, depending on the version of the Music, either an errant Noldo or a mortal Man, succeeded in recovering one of the Silmarils in an incredible display of stealth, resourcefulness, and sheer bravery. In the short term, this helped Morgoth, because the Elves now went to war amongst themselves over the Silmaril and Morgoth easily mopped up what remained, but it also left Him open to a renewed assault by the other Gods, which this time defeated him, cast him beyond the Circles of the World, and left the Silarmils, all three of them, lost forever, but the light and hope contained within no longer heeled by the clutches of evil and thus able to filter out into the world.

The Age of Men - The Age of Men began with the founding of Númenor, and continues to this day. It is divided into three or four smaller Ages, depending on whom you ask (although the Hylarin calendar still holds that the Age of Elves has not ended). Men have built many civilizations, and covered most of the world, but have periodically been threatened with a resurgence of the Orcs, and oftentimes the bulk of the kingdoms of Men have been wicked, dominated by Sauron or his sorcerer kings. All of that was brought to a close in the climactic War of the Ring at the end of what the Dúnedian call the Third Age, despite that a larger version of the same war had been fought by a last alliance consisting of Men, the Hylar, and the last kingdoms of the Noldor, but the Age of Men continues and will continue for at least another few thousand years after that; the end is not certain, because it is for Men to choose.

The Age of Machines - as the Grace of the Elves fades and the industry of Men prevails, Men will begin to build and depend upon Machines, thereby ushering in a new Age. Whether Men remain masters of their Machines, or whether the Machines rebel and master them, or some of both, remains to be seen. It is likely that Men, or perhaps the Men Remade, will reach to worlds never before seen with their Machines, unless, of course, the others in the future, such as the Ilithids, destroy Men because Men have dawdled or warred upon themselves.

The Age of Ilithids - alien beings of the same universe and substance of the Aboleths, these mysterious creatures come from the distant future instead of the past. What leads their Age to begin, or if it has already begun on some distant world, none can say, but it likely that they do exist in the future, and that Men will meet them in their own time. Perhaps they will be bested by Men, perhaps not, or perhaps Men will have already destroyed themselves by then, or their Machines will have done it for them.

The Age of Men Remade - the most optimistic possible future is perhaps this, the Age of Men Remade. Men Remade are descendants of Men who have changed, by their destiny, biology, or magic, into a mortal being that combines the virtues of Men and Elves, loving nature and protecting it, but still possessing the versatility of Men and their free will, while at the same time inheriting Elven grace. It is this that the Hylar wish to reform Men into, and it is this Age that the Hylar wish the Age of Elves, their Age of Elves, to be brought to an end by.

The Age of the Stars - who can say what powers dwell beyond the Stars to be wakened or sealed by the choices, direct and indirect, of Men today? But this much is certain: the Stars are vaster and greater than mortals do or can imagine, and short of an end to Time itself, there will always be more Ages, more kinds, and more things.


Glossary of races and terms
Aboleths - Creatures, aberrations to life as we know it, but at home in their own ancient, alien world, living in a shared universe with things we cannot even imagine. Few are left now, although whether that is because they are genuinely mostly extinct, or merely asleep, is unknown, perhaps even to them. They possess powerful mental powers that put them on a par with Dragons, but are now lesser than their ancestors. The Aboleths were created by Melkor for reasons unknown, retroactively added to the past, by alteration of the Music.
Angels - Spirits, generally lesser than Gods but not always, and made of the same substance. Unlike Gods, they are not worshipped individually; worship for one of them gives worship power to the entire order of Angels to which the individual belongs. Angels composed in part of the Flame Imperishable like the Valar (First Gods), called Maiar, do not need worship, but unlike the Valar themselves, they can be killed; doing so releases their Flame at which point it is dispersed and eventually resorbed by the Valar whom they are aspects of. Some of the most powerful Maiar also qualify as Gods, although they are usually referred to as Angels in order to distinguish them from the Valar. See also Demons.
Aulë - One of the First Gods, the God of smithying, and creator of the Dwarves. Also called Mahal. The widely worshipped extra worldly deity Moradin is probably an aspect of Aulë.
Beren - Hero of the Age of Elves, may have been an elf and may have been a man (depends on which version of the Music, so both are partially correct). Helped his wife Lúthien snag a Silmaril from the Iron Crown of Morgoth.
Children - Elves and Men, two races written into the Music in the draft dictated by the Overpower to the First Gods in the Halls before Time began. Elves are immortal, but fated, will ultimately be supplanted by mortal and free-willed Men.
Demons - Demons are the flip side to Angels, evil spirits composed of the same essence(es) as Gods, but of (usually) lesser power, and not worshipped individually. Although not worshipped individually, they can and do have their own priests, despite being generally less powerful than Angels on a one-for-one basis (although truly powerful Demons can easily rival powerful Gods, even First Gods, in sheer might). See also Angels. Some early races of Giants are also Demons.
Dragons - Elemental, reptilian or avian beings of tremendous power, the greatest among them worthy to be called Gods themselves and certainly Their rivals, the Dragons brought in the first Age consisting of Nature as we would understand it, with the dominant sentient beings having understandable (if magical) biology. The Dragons were created retroactively, added to the past, by Melkor, for reasons unknown. Because many if not most of the first Dragons were and are good, not evil, it is likely that Melkor Himself was not entirely evil yet when He did this.
Dragons, First - also referred to as the First Clutch, these were the first Dragons, the parents and ancestors of all other Dragons. Among them are Bahamut the Platinum, Tiamat the Queen of Chaos, and Quetzalcoatl the Lawgiver, all of them worthy to be called Gods in their own right.
Dwarves - a civilized, sentient, corporeal race created by Aulë, one of the very few civilized corporeal races older than the Elves. Contrary to popular belief, they are made of flesh and not stone, and their females are distinguishable from their males if you know what to look for (full, flowing beard, male; scruffy beard or goteé, female).
Elder Evils - Beings of uncertain origin and natures that existed before the Aboleths, these would be god-like aberrations in our world, but for the most part are unconcerned with us, bound by destiny to leave us alone unless Men (and specifically Men) wake them up or seek them out. One of these, however, something the Aboleths venerate as "the Violet Flame", is probably Melkor, seen without a body, and just as alien to the Aboleths themselves as He would be to us.
Elves - Eldest of the Children, creatures of flesh, inherently good in the universe but have some freedom to change that, but ultimately bound by fate to be succeeded by Men. As it was, the Orcs succeeded them, and then Men, although the Hylar would disagree with you. Individually they are physically and mentally superior to Men on average, but there is so much overlap that individual Men can easily surpass the vast majority of Elves in ability and deed. Elves have limited free will - most of their lives and civilizations are affected by destiny, and they cannot stand forever despite their immortal physiology, but they are free to live their own lives as they choose, as well as influence the (free) choices that Men will make through their own free actions.
First Dragons - see Dragons, First.
First Gods - see Gods, First.
Giants - Giant humanoid creatures, the oldest of the civilized sentient races composed principally of flesh rather than of spirit (the Dragons are older, but not by much, and never were civilized). Some of the eldest of Giants ("Titans") however also qualify as Gods, and some of the races of Giants are descended in part from Demons (Ogres are a dilute Orc-Demon hybrid). It is uncertain where the Giants came from originally, if they were, like so many other early mythic beings, created by Melkor, or if they were a premonition of the Children (or of the Gods, whom they also predate, although not by much).
Gods - spirits, capable of having worshippers and granting prayers and priests. They come in a variety of types, from relatively weak local guardian spirits to the most powerful beings in the multiverse, the Valar, or First Gods. Generally, 'God' is capitalized when referring to these greater spirits and not with the lesser spirits. Exactly what these spirits are made of varies as well, although they all have a soul-essence that is fed by worship. For those whom this is their only essence, they require worship in order to live, but some of the other gods have other sources of life as well, and some (particularly Titans and First Dragons) can have permanent living bodies as any living creature. How the purely spiritual non-Valar Gods sustained themselves before the arrival of lesser beings who could worship them is a mystery, although it is likely they had help of some kind from the Valar (who are ultimately responsible for their existence).
Gods, First - the First Gods, or Valar, are spirits composed of the Flame Imperishable that the Overpower kindled before the beginning of Time. Existing partially outside of Time as well as within it, the Valar can never be truly destroyed, as their imperishable essence can be dispersed, but will eventually reform. The primary power of the Valar over the other Gods is that they have firsthand knowledge of the Music, taught to them by none other than the Overpower Himself, and as a consequence can alter reality and even the rules of reality, allowing them to create seas, continents, creatures, intelligent races, and even other Gods.
Gods, Second - a blanket term that describes all god-like beings that are not Valar, but who can gain power and sustenance from worship, and who can grant prayers. The line between these and some of the other powerful ancient beings, particularly Dragons of the First Clutch, Titans (elder Giants), Demon Lords, and even powerful monsters, is very blurry.
Hylar - A tribe of Elves, and the last kindred whose civilization has not fallen or withdrawn from the world. They believe that the destiny of the Elves is to pass their virtues on to Men, and only then will the Age of the Elves be rightfully over and Men worthy and ready to achieve the greatness given by their potential.
Illithids - Aberrant creatures from the distant future, inhabitants of the same universe as the Abolethds. Sometimes seen through premonitions of the future, sometimes extended premonitions (there can be colonies of them living underground). They seem to have limited free will - it is up to Men to let them loose, and the choice of whether or not to do this has not come yet.
Lúthien - Heroine of the Age of Elves, managed to snag a Silmaril from the Iron Crown of Morgoth with her husband Beren's help through awesome displays of skill, resourcefulness, and incredible bravery. Daughter of an Angel (Melian) and an Elven prophet (Elwë), although as Melian was in the form of an elf at the time of conception, Lúthien may have been entirely an elf herself.
Machines - Entities created through the craft of other creatures, most quintessentially in the destined sense by Men, but Orcs, Dwarves, Elves, Giants, Illithids, and Aboleths have all been known to create Machines. Intelligent Machines capable of free action are a rarity, but show up from time to time in the form of visions or premonitions or magical foreshadowings of possible futures. From what can be told, Machines are entirely material, possessing no spirits whatsoever, and while confined by their instructions, they are free to execute their instructions (including the instruction to have free will) with absolute freedom from destiny, free even from Men, as it is Men who will create them.
Melkor - The greatest of the Valar (First Gods), whose alterations to the Music created many if not most of the earlier Ages. Eventually, he also created evil, and is appropriately known as the God of Evil, although when he actually became evil or was just mischievous is in doubt. It appears that His purpose in the divine plan was specifically to mess with that plan, as if to make it interesting. If so, He has done a very good job at His intended purpose, and, arguably, still is, with most of His essence now fused with Arda and many of His creatures still wreaking havoc even now that He is himself banished from the world.
Men - The younger of the Children, creatures of flesh, destined to succeed the Elves, but free-willed after that to choose the fate of the universe.
Men Remade - A future race that possesses the virtues of Elves (long but not immortal life, respect for nature, good alignment, generally better physical health and mental ability) and Men (free will, extreme versatility). The desire of the Hylar is for their civilization to give way to the rise of these beings, Men uncorrupted by Melkor.
Morgoth - name the Noldor gave to Melkor after Melkor stole the Silmarils. A useful distinction, as Melkor continually spent His divine essence on sorcery and on creating and corrupting evil beings, which continually made His physical form weaker and less mutable, but at the same time made Melkor more dangerous to beings not near Him physically. Possibly used as a tactic in case the other Gods cast him out of the Circles of the World (which They eventually did).
Orcs - Creatures of the flesh, made from captured Elves that Melkor abducted and corrupted. Generally the foot soldiers of Evil, although wicked Men work just as well, especially as the Age of Men comes into full swing.
Overpower - called Ilúvitar, Eru, possibly the same as Ao; omnipotent, omniscient, created the First Gods, created the Music (or dictated it to the First Gods who performed it, and then made it possible for the Music to create existence). Among Ilúvitar's creations are such insignificant things as matter, energy, space, and time.
Noldor - One of the tribes of Elves, known for their smithying ability, their civilization, their arrogance, and their being all but destroyed first by Morgoth and then by Sauron.
Sauron - a Demon, fallen Maia (see Angels), and servant of Melkor, although often essentially independent when Melkor is not around. A powerful warrior, great administrator, sneaky and extraordinarily competent sorcerer (even for a Demon), but with a limited grasp of destiny and the nature of anybody not evil.
Silmarils - holy jewels containing the Hope of the Queen of the Gods, Varda, Goddess of Hope. Although the Elves created them, the Gods hallowed them, which meant that when Melkor stole them, He controlled the greater part of Varda's power, allowing Him to deny Hope to His enemies.
Second Gods - see Gods, Second.
Valar - see Gods, First.

[This message has been edited by Beren V (edited 12-18-2011 @ 00:25 AM).]

Topic 5 - Magic and magic-users

Preface
Dungeons and Dragons ordinarily assumes the existence of what can be described as four fundamentally different kinds of magic, these being the study-based, wizardly magic, the inherent innate power that some people (sorcerers) and creatures possess, the magic that people blessed by the gods wield, and finally mental powers that come from honing one's self, mind, and spirit to be in tune with the universe. The first two categories are further lumped together and described as arcane, the third type divine, and the fourth is generally known as psionics, although the monk was the first Third Edition class (and only PHB class) to use it. Although fundamentally different in their operation, at least supposedly, these four kinds of magic still seem to be the same thing in the universe: priests can dispel wizard spells and sorcerers can magically sense the supernatural powers of monks. Some settings separate out psionics from the other three, although most regard it as just another kind of magic.

Nonetheless, problems arise when you think about this too carefully: why should clerics be limited in the number of spells they can cast per day, if it's the god who is casting the spells through them (sure, a cleric's level may be useable as a rough approximation of the extent to which a god will invest in him, but if what the cleric is doing is really crucial to his god's plans, shouldn't he be able to cast any spells he needs that his god can provide)? Similarly, if a sorcerer's power is something that he is born with, and maybe can grow as his life force (i.e. experience level) grows, then why is he unable to become skilled in things other than magic, still being able to grow in power as a sorcerer while taking levels of fighter, rogue, etc.? The real answer, of course, is game balance: D&D was designed with munchkins in mind. However, this article will discuss a more reasonable way by which this could work, which largely relies on blurring the distinctions between the different kinds of magic that D&D set out to identify in the first place.


Where does magic come from?

Well, the basic question of what magic is and where it comes from is immediately tricky, since in Arda there really are two truly different kinds of magic. These are (1) the Music of the Ainur, which is an expression of the divine power responsible for all of existence, but which can be performed by anybody with the knowledge of the Music that was given to the Gods before Time began, and (2) exploitation of exotic physics created by or allowed for by the Music in a particular Theme. The second in particular is impossible to define, although there are some general patterns common to most Themes, most versions of reality.

Because the Music is actually capable of fundamentally altering reality and the exploits just use what the Music has already provided, most mages in Arda refer to the Music as "Great" magic and the exploits as "lesser" magic, even though many if not most applications of Great magic are comparable in their overall effect to what many lesser mages can do. Because effectively altering reality at a fundamental level requires understanding the intricacies of nature, both mundane and exotic, the great majority of Great mages are also lesser mages, but not vice-versa. Moreover, since Great magic is both a divine power and something that is based on knowledge (albeit divine knowledge), the very existence of Great magic tends to blur the distinctions between the arcane and the divine; it is both. Lesser magic can still be one or the other, but historically and throughout most of the world, it also tends to blend reality. Thus, it is necessary to go through each as how it actually exists in the world, and how it is practiced: as you will see, all four magic types include elements of all three of the others!


First, a note on language - different people in Arda use terms for different kinds of magic users in different ways. While a priest is always somebody who intercedes and prays to the gods, he may or may not derive his magical power from them, or may not even have magical powers at all. The term "sorcerer" is usually used to describe an evil or at least unsavory spellcaster who gains his powers in alliances and deals with demons or questionable fey (or, of course, is a demon himself). This is quite different from what a Sorcerer is in the rule books! In general, I will use capitalization to distinguish between the rules mechanics versus colloquial speech. A Cleric is a person with the corresponding character class in the PHB; a cleric is somebody who holds a position of some kind of authority in a church or a temple.


Sorcery is probably the easiest form of magic to understand for non-magic users. Sorcerers are people who have some inherent gift, usually from their ancestry, that enables them to use magic. For a Sorcerer, the actual use of magic can be thought of as a form of artistic expression: the native talent and power are essential, but the more the artist hones his craft, the better he can be at using it. Skilled and trained athletes with their sports. This is why Sorcerers gain power as they gain experience, and why they do not gain power in sorcery by studying other skills such as diplomacy, swordplay, or even the arcane arts: they may not be learning about the nature of magic, but they are learning about themselves and their gifts and how to apply their gifts upon nature. Sorcery is, thus, by definition, lesser magic, although the artistic nature of sorcery enables Sorcerers to at least potentially wield Great magic very effectively, but their honing of their personal gifts do not lend them to that study.

Divine magic involves being blessed by a deity or group of semi-divine spirits (angels, demons, fey) with an inherent gift of power similar to that which Sorcerers use, although that gift tends to be focused on a specific thing rather than the more generic magical talent that Sorcerers possess (although keep in mind the Sorcerer backgrounds in the Pathfinder books!). However, a Cleric or Druid's spells are indeed spells, and require knowledge, can be researched, and are potentially limitless in the list of things that such a person can know. This is why Divine spell lists are entirely based on spell level, rather than having a set number of spells that the mage can know all told. Moreover, because this knowledge is shared by the gods, Divine spellcasters effectively know all of the spells they need, or know that they exist and can ask for them. Of course, this means that they are jealously guarded, since, at least in principle, others could hijack spell lists from divine spellcasters. Because of the functionally specialized nature of divine magic, however, the philosophically specialized arcane magicians (i.e. Wizards) will have a difficult time duplicating Priest spells even so - Priests mostly have to worry about other Priests of enemy faiths.

Wizardry is usually very complicated. Magic often isn't a thing or substance the way that more physically oriented people imagine it. Magic is not just a form of energy. What Wizards do is they freelance; you can think of them as freelance Priests who will wheel and deal with any appropriately-aligned spirit or deity for what they need done, or they may go it alone and simply exploit exotic physics that arguably aren't really magic in the first place. This doesn't stop other forms of lesser magic from identifying it as magic, however, because either by inherent insight (Sorcery) or divine inspiration (Clericry), the other magic-users are using the same exotic physics.

Psionics are the odd one out, often relying on a different set of exotic physics than the other branches of lesser magic. Psionics can often be thought of as a form of destiny-related magic in that the creatures that can use it have some kind of destiny or otherwise perfection, which also leads to destiny (as is the case with monks). However, not everybody who is destined or perfect can use Psionics; it also consists of a mental and spiritual placing of one's will upon the world, can be nature-affiliated, or even represent closeness to a deity, just not direct blessing off of a deity. More than anything else, however, Psionics is otherworldly; there may be natural perfections within it, but people who use Psionics are at least in part transcendent. A purely material perfect being would use either Sorcery or Divine magic, depending on the focus of that perfection.

Great Magic - because many spells are art-like, the line between lesser magic and Great magic is decidedly blurry, just as the line between arcane and divine gets blurry, especially as one approaches the Great/lesser distinction. The most fundamental distinction, however, is that Great magic shapes how reality is supposed to be, which makes it a lot easier for lesser magic to enforce that shape, even if actions of people or creatures endeavor deviate from that plan (which is common, because there are, after all, multiple, conflicting, applications of Great magic around). Great magic can be learned by any of the basic magic-using characters and even some non-magic users, and invariably involves multiple parts: understanding the technique of the Music is arcane and Wizard-like; acquiring the knowledge to perform the Music derives from the Gods and requires a certain respect of the Music that already exists, which is Cleric-like; the actual performance is very artistic (the metaphor of "Music" is important), and thus Sorcery-like; and the ability to alter reality at a fundamental level, even altering physics, is otherworldly, abstract, and Psionics-like.

[This message has been edited by Beren V (edited 01-04-2012 @ 11:52 PM).]

Topic 6 - Priests and Champions


What divine magic is and how it works
Users of divine magic are people who possess blessings given to them by the deities or spirits they patron which enable them to wield magical powers. These blessings are inherent blessings, and the use of divine magic is not fundamentally different from that of arcane magic: while more powerful or more promising servants of a deity may be given more powerful blessings, most of a divine spellcaster's growth in power with level comes from learning how to more effectively use what blessings they have, much as a sorcerer does with his or her arcane talents.

Divine spellcasters are generally divided into two categories: priests and champions. Champions are arguably specialized priests who put more of a focus into developing their martial skill so that they can more effectively fight for the goals of the faith. Priests serve their faiths in other ways, which can be specific or general, but usually (although not always) chiefly in a martial capacity. Both priests and champions are subdivided into a number of other individual character classes depending on the adherent's actual role in serving their faith. Priest classes in the Player's Handbook include the Cleric and Druid, while champion classes include the Monk, Paladin, and Ranger. While these are the most recognized and probably the most common classes of their types worldwide, there are many others, which, in some religions, are more common than the PHB classes (which, indeed, may be entirely absent!).

Note: Capitalization will be used to identify a character class or game mechanic, while lower-case terms will describe colloquial terms. A Monk is somebody with levels of the Monk character class, while a monk is a man who has taken monk's vows or lives in a monastery and may or may not be a magic-user at all.

Priest classes and their functions
All priests - priest classes generally have the following attributes:
--d8 hit die
--Rogue attack bonus (=3/4 of class level)
--Two good saves, one of which is Will.
--Proficiency with simple weapons
--Full divine spellcasting (caster level = level, going to 9th-level spells)
--Some sort of secondary, major, magical class ability, such as the Cleric's Turn Undead or Druid's Wild Shape.

The following list is hardly exhaustive: new suggestions will be considered.

Cleric - the most common and most recognizable, one of the classes in the PHB. Clerics function as shepherds to guide and fortify the faithful. For this reason, their spells are ideally suited to their role as healers and in blessing others, they possess some way of dealing with undead that threaten the faithful either by turning or by rebuking them, and their combat abilities are not geared toward being inconspicuous or in traveling anywhere that the faithful would not, hence their common reliance on heavy armor. While possessing magical powers related to the themes of their religion (i.e. domains), the bulk of a Cleric's magical spells generally fill this fortifying and protective role. Because of their protective role, many clerics are also symbolically discouraged from using bladed weapons that draw blood, never mind that the fully-functional but blunt weapons do cause bleeding upon impact, presumably impact upon those infidels that threaten the faithful. Most (but not all) religions have Clerics, because most religions have faithful that need to be shepherded or protected, and Clerics are the class for the task.

Druid - the reason why Druids are in the PHB is because they are so different from Clerics, while still being priests, and suit a game with a limited number of class options. Druids are guardians; they protect the wilds for those religions for whom the wilds are sacred. As guardians of the wilds, Druids' magical powers focus on using the wilds and to a lesser extent the elements of nature as a weapon against threats or intruders, including, among others, the ability of a Druid to take the form of a wild beast, and to have such a beast as a companion. Only religions that have a heavy focus on protecting or harboring the wilds will have Druids, but this includes most nature-based faiths as well as a fair number of elemental faiths. Elememental druids may have their spell lists added with one or more domains in exchange for other abilities (usually their animal companions) much as Clerics do, but at their core they will be Druids, and retain all of their Druidic powers (including a Druid follower of a water-based religion being able to cast Produce Flame).

Elemental Priests - A lot of religions favor one or more elements and consider them sacred; these elements can be of the traditional western list (air, water, fire, earth), the eastern list (wind, water, wood, metal, fire), or even more esoteric (such as light, darkness, time/space/gravity, or even mind/spirit). Many if not most religions have Elemental Priests, although a smaller fraction mostly depend on them. Elemental Priests have:
--An armor proficiency set based on their element, with earth/metal wearing heavy armor, and the others wearing light (water, wood) or no (air, light, darkness) armor. Fire is a special case; Fire Priests representing gods of the forge will wear heavy armor like earth or metal, but the gaseous element of Fire will more likely have armorless Priests; it depends on the religion. Classes with light or now armor get defensive abilities get additional boni, such as the Monk's Wisdom Bonus to AC.
--Elemental Priests of solid or liquid elements (water, wood, earth, metal) will have good Fortitude saves. Those of gaseous or insubstantial elements (air, fire, light, darkness, etc.) will have good Reflex saves.
--A spell list consisting of a list of basic, "simple" spells resembling the Adept NPC class spell list, as well as a more restrictive list of specialized or complicated spells either directly or symbolically related to the Priest's Element.

Favored Souls - Favored Souls are wandering prophets. Similar to Clerics, the messages that these prophets bring they bring to the people, and as a result they have a very similar set of powers, although based on the Favored Soul's ability to bring his message to the people (i.e. charisma) instead of his inherent grace with the gods (i.e. wisdom). Favored Souls are usually reserved for religions that don't have established priesthoods, or whose priesthoods do not have a major component of bringing the message to the people, or, worst of all, if the priesthood has become disconnected from its original purpose. In general, their appearance indicates that a religion is about to change direction dramatically.

Inquisitors - These are priests that specialize in finding and dealing with enemies of the faith. Depending on the religion and its tolerance of other faiths, these priests can fight anybody from all infidels to only those infidels that practice certain forbidden practices or outright pose a threat to the faith or the faithful. Their powers include some abilities similar to what Clerics have, but they have much more in the way of powers to find enemies of the faith, and weapons to deal with them when find. Most established religions that are not entirely concerned with peace do have Inquistiors, although only the most intolerant or warlike religions are dominated by them.

Spirit Shamans - A number of religions, instead of or perhaps in addition to worshipping one or a small number of powerful gods instead worship a large collection of much less powerful spirits. These are the priests that commune with these lesser spirits. Anamistic and shamanistic religions, true to their name, are the only religions likely to have Spirit Shamans. Those that do are likely to be dominated by some combination of Spirit Shamans, Elemental Priests, and Druids, and may lack Clerics altogether.


Champions and their roles
All Champions - champion classes are far more variable than priests (just look at the examples from the PHB), but they often have the following characteristics:
--Fighter's attack bonus (= level)
--Good Fortitude saves (and usually not others)
--d10 hit die (sometimes d8)
--Simple and martial weapon proficiency
--Proficiency with at least medium armor
--Spellcasting ability at 1/2 level

As with priests, this list is not exhaustive. Any suggestions/things that I have missed are welcome!

Blackguards - Blackguards are the sacred warriors of most evil religions. Exactly what their abilities are will be in flux; as a GM, I (Beren V) am of the mind that the evil religions need some kind of armor-wearing sacred champion, and that this needs to be a basic class like the Paladin, not a prestige class as the Blackguard currently exists. I am open to suggestions on how to make this a reality. Blackguards' abilities should not be a dark mirror of those of the Paladin, because they are different; they should have more offensive or otherwise nasty powers. Obviously, Blackguards are the class of choice for religions who

Monk - Monks belong to religions that emphasize the perfection of the body, mind, and soul of the individual as a coherent unit, instead of focusing on only one or sometimes two of these aspects. Because of their personal level of training and the soul-based nature of their magical powers, Monks are arguably not divine spellcasters at all, but rather martial psions. Nonetheless, when Monks do cast spells, they are divine spells.

Paladin - Paladins are the sacred warriors who fight their enemies with all of the honor that their opponents lack. Their powers rely on the two-fold focus of the just ruler and the honorable knight, which is why they have the King's healing hands as well as spells that both heal as well as bolster martial strength, and ferret out enemies of the faith like an Inquistor; they are warriors, after all (although those enemies will be fought as honorably as anybody else). Religions that have emphasis on honor in war are likely to have Paladins, but religions without such emphasis generally don't. Understand, however, that what constitutes honor and what does not vary a great deal from one culture or religion to the next; for example, the Sicar Elves, one of the tribes of the Hylarin Empire, have numerous Paladins in their Temple, but those Paladins will not hesitate to attack using stealth, since the Sicar do not consider stealth to be dishonorable.

Ranger - Rangers are a special case, because not all Rangers are religious. Those that aren't, however, do not use magic; magic is restricted to Rangers who have been blessed, although that blessing need not be affiliated with any particular priesthood. Rangers are wardens; while Druids are the guardians of the wild, Rangers are its champions, the ones who brave its dangers, who lead others safely through it, and who protect those worthy, faithful and infidel alike, who cannot protect themselves. Of course, the 'wild' can mean many things to a Ranger, and there are Inquisitor-like Rangers who fight enemies of the faith in their own home or, as the Rangers themselves would say, habitat.

[This message has been edited by Beren V (edited 01-04-2012 @ 11:52 PM).]

Topic 7 - Hylarin civilization, law, government, and society


Overview

The Hylar are not the only people inhabiting the civilization that bears their name. In general, the meta-Hylarin people, or, if you will, the Imperial citizenry, includes elves of multiple different kindreds, as well as dwarves, humans, halflings, and even orcs. Although portions of the Empire are cosmopolitan, in general, the "tribes" as they are called are independent, self-governing entities, all held together by a common religion, which consists of several orders, but are collectively referred to as the Hylarin Temple, or, simply, the Temple.

In many ways, the Empire is an empire in name only, due to the political autonomy of most of the tribes, and the fact that the tribes do not directly pay taxes to the Emperor, although there is a very limited, secular organ of government that does regulate inter-tribe trade, which does get a cut of profits on trade goods in and out of the Empire. Militarily, all of the tribes are bound by alliances to not tolerate outside aggression against any one of them (a defensive alliance), and if a sufficient majority of the tribes want to go to war with an outside power, they can compel the minority to do so as well (offensive alliance).

However, the Temple is one organization, even if it has regional or tribal branches, and all of the tribes pay tithes to the Temple. The Temple, for its part, defends the peoples of the Empire from supernatural threats, hostile religions, propagates and guards the Theme (commonly known as the "Hylarin Theme" or the "New Elven Covenant", depending on your outlook), responsible for the prosperity and survival of the various tribes and their cultures, guarantees certain rights to all citizenry of any race, guarantees certain rights to all tribes, and in general promotes heroic activities throughout Hylarin lands and the surrounding regions.


Policies and rights
Under the laws of the Empire, both the tribes and the citizens have rights, prerogatives, and obligations. These rights are divided into two classes, those of the tribes and those of the citizenry, both of which are stringently enforced by the Temple and form the cornerstone of meta-Hylarin society.

Survival of Tribes
All tribes are permitted to take actions necessary for the survival of their tribes. Survival in this case is considered both genetic as well as cultural and losing tribal identity - being absorbed by another tribe does not constitute survival. This allows tribes to do things they are otherwise forbidden from doing, such as restricting migration, or even enforcing isolation. The other tribes are not only required to respect these policies, but facilitate them: if, for example, the Empire is at war and one of the tribes is in danger of extinction because of it, the lives of citizens and soldiers of other, unendangered, tribes will be risked preferentially over the lives of tribes at risk of disappearing. If multiple tribes are in danger, the survival of a race (e.g. elves, dwarves, humans) takes precedence over that of an individual tribe. The Temple also takes vested interest in specific tribes, as some of the Elemental Temples that the Hylar hold key to their religion are considered attuned to specific tribes, and so the Temple makes sure to protect populations of these tribes in times of desperate need.

Tribal Government
Each tribe has its own government, or is free to adopt such as tribal tradition and history determines. The governments of Hylarin tribes are extremely varied, from feudal monarchies (the Hylar themselves), to republics (the Loyal Resistance), to theocratic cabals (Khelad Mara). These governments establish their own laws, provided that individual citizens have certain rights ensured by the Temple, and that the Temple is allowed to act freely, and if the Temple or the Empire requires it that the tribal government must comply with the Temple's or the Empire's needs. These callings from above are not made lightly.

Trade and migration
Barring the protection of tribal survival (above), citizens of any tribe are permitted to migrate anywhere they want in the Empire, or even emigrate from the Empire if they so choose. Individuals guilty of crimes can of course be incarcerated and punished, and individuals from outside the Empire can be restricted by individual tribes. Citizens of any tribe can trade across the Empire. Trading outside of the Empire is also permitted, but subject to Imperial restrictions, and imperial taxes. Tribes may not set tariffs between each-other (again, except for survival). Citizens who migrate to other areas of the Empire belong to the tribe into which they were born, and pay taxes accordingly. Tribes can adopt migrant citizens if and only if both the citizen and the tribe to which the citizen belongs agree. Tribes may coin their own currencies, which are based on actual value of goods or materials currencies are made from (semi-precious stones are a favorite).

Militaries and warfare
All tribes are required to maintain an army, and, if possible, a navy. Tribes may not declare war against each-other except in dire need. If more than half of the Empire's tribes declare war against an outside enemy, then the rest are at war as well. If the Temple declares war against an enemy nation, all tribes must declare war. Generals and admirals in charge will be selected by a military council containing all of the tribes in joint campaigns.

Religion
The Empire may outlaw specific religions. However, aside from that, citizens are permitted to believe in whatever religion they will. They may not, however, attempt to interfere with the Hylarin Temple or its activities (doing so will get your religion outlawed). Every person has the right to be considered for membership in the priesthood, which, if granted, frees the individual from other sociopolitical duties, such as vassalage to a lord. The Temple need not grant priestly status if the applicant is undesirable for any reason, including but not limited to lack of moral, physical, or intellectual attributes needed to be successful as a priestess (most of the priesthood is female and referred to as such; being a priestess is also dangerous, so resourcefulness and physical ability are essential for survival).

Marriage
Marriage is a right to all citizens. Citizens may choose who and when they will marry, and may ordinarily do so with neither permission, ceremony nor witness, although both members of a couple to be married must consent. Marriage to multiple people is permitted, but in this case the spouses of those already wed and now marrying additional spouses must also consent and witness the additional new union. Citizens may choose not to marry, and may change their minds at any time. Divorce is permitted, but requires a lengthy time of evaluation prior to divorce being final. Actual betrayal of a spouse is a capital offense, and instantly dissolves the marriage. If a person wishes to be married but cannot find a spouse, the state or branch of state (e.g. the military) responsible for the person must aid this person in the search for a suitable spouse. Every married person, male or female, is considered to have complete sexual rights to his or her spouse, including the right to share one's spouse with another.

Profession
Any citizen is free to choose his or her profession as he or she sees fit and as his or her mental and physical attributes allow. The one exception is indentured servitude, in which case the indenture is handled by a court and deemed to be over after a certain period of time, assuming good work ethic. This period can be reduced or eliminated if the plaintiff is paid the value of the indenture.

Equality
All citizens not of the priesthood and not married to the priesthood are equal with respect to the Empire as a whole. This does not mean equality with respect to individual tribes, which can and do have titles of nobility, etc.

Crime and punishment
Anybody accused of a crime has the right to a trial by a panel of local elders who will hear the defendant's case. Lethal forms of torture are forbidden as punishment, although torture as an alternative to incarceration is permitted (and common). All criminals who have been given prison sentences they are unlikely to survive also have a right to execution, as do spouses of the condemned (also not uncommon). Methods of execution vary by tribe, but execution by shooting or by archery is considered respectful and reserved for idealistic but political targets, especially priestesses.


Miscellaneous notes - note that the right to life is not one of the allowed rights; bills of attainder are entirely legal under Hylarin legislation. There are, however, some specific laws that deal with the Temple:

The Temple
Anybody in the Temple or affiliated with the Temple, including priestesses, their husbands (and wives for male priests), and their children, do enjoy some special rights, mainly having to do with their status as priestesses and their families that exist to protect the priestesses in politically ambiguous situations. These are:

Actions while on Temple business - Priestesses who are on official Temple business may break any standard law they need to in order to accomplish their missions. Official business is something that is taken seriously both by the Temple as well as by the Gods; a priestess who misuses her authority quickly loses it, along with her priestly powers, and can then be (and usually is) executed without a second thought (and not by archery or otherwise respectful manner). This official business is restricted to interrupting or spying on activities by priests of enemy religions, evil Gods, Demons, people collaborating with such entities, and so forth, not ordinary criminals or villains, and even then often only when the priestess' mission is critical. Most priestesses do not spend most of their time on official business

Actions while not on Temple business - By their station, priestesses are required to act heroic, meaning that they must undertake heroic deeds, as they choose them, even when those heroic deeds do not involve directly stopping Demons or other agents of dark Gods. While not on Temple business, she is free to use her priestly powers, and so on, but she is not any more free to commit any crimes in the name of her quest than any other citizen. If, however, a priestess is convicted of a crime, even something truly serious such as espionage or even treason, and she is to be executed, then it is to be done respectfully, provided that she can prove that she is still a priestess (easy for any priestess to do).

Crimes against the Temple - A crime against the Temple is any hostile action that specifically targets the Temple for being what it is. A common thief who sneaks into a Temple building and steals some valuables has not committed a crime against the Temple; he's just a thief. A baron who imprisons a priestess for trying to bring his illegal actions to the attention of the Temple or to the baron's liege has committed a crime against the Temple, because he's interfering with her because of what she's doing in the line of her duty. A crime against the Temple is almost always a capital offense, even if the crime itself would not be (imprisoning somebody is serious, but not necessarily capital).

[This message has been edited by Beren V (edited 01-04-2012 @ 11:53 PM).]

Topic 8 - Tribes and loyal factions within the Hylarin Empire: An introduction

Preface
The Hylarin Empire is, well, an empire: a diverse collection of different peoples with their own distinct cultures, sharing a common government. Nominally, they all answer to the Hylarin Emperor, who doubles as the king of the Hylarin tribe, but much of the day-to-day running of the Empire is undertaken by an elected parliament in which all established tribes under imperial authority are given representation, while the Emperor primarily functions as the military commander in chief. In addition, some of the tribes are politically independent, and one faction actively styles itself as a rebellion within the Empire itself - but all are united by a common religion overseen by multiple orders of clerics and priestesses who bless the different factions and largely prevent disharmony between the different races that belong to the Empire.

Although different tribes and factions have quite different governments, from fully autocratic monarchies to democratic republics, they all exist at the Temple's tacit approval. The Temple, for the most part, allows the different regional governments to organize and choose themselves as they see fit, but the priestesses intervene when one of the Empire's component states attempts to make war on another, or to violate the relatively small number of laws the Temple imposes on the provincial governments (see topic 7). Similarly, if the Empire's states must cooperate in order to defeat a formidable external (or internal) enemy, the priestesses make sure that it happens. Many of the tribes also include priestesses within their local governments as well, but the direct influence the individual priestesses have is determined by the tribes in question.

Topic 9 - Tribes and peoples in the Hylarin empire I: the Hylar themselves


Biology and ancestry
The primary tribe for which the Empire takes its name, the Hylar elves are descended from Sindarin and Nandorin ancestors. Physically, they are tall, have a range of hair colors but are most often blond, and usually have blue, sometimes green, eyes. Due, they say, to their religion, they are not immortal as their Sindarin and Nandoran ancestors were, but their natural lifespans are long enough that they almost never die of old age, usually being killed by something aforetime. Still, a not insignificant number of Hylar are old enough to grow beards, something that does not normally happen in elves except for the very ancient. Numerically, the Hylar are by far the most populous Elven tribe on Arda, numbering in the hundreds of thousands for most of their existence, unlike the present day Sylvan elves (about one hundred thousand), Sindar (fifty thousand). Their closest runner up is the Suliar, one of the other tribes within the Empire.


Government and culture
Hylar can be found living all over the Empire, but the lands they hold as their own lie in the woodland-savannas at the foot of the great mountains that divide the Empire into its northern and southern portions, and in a city on the rolling sporadically wooded plains north of those mountains. These cities are open, and cover wide areas to contain the large parks within their walls. Their government is a feudal monarchy with a parliament, with a complex but functional court of warrior nobles who lead the military.

Staple crops for the Hylar include various fruits, nuts, and rice, as well as boar, venison, and, especially, rabbit, which are raised in a semi-wild state. Hylarin clothing tends to be comfortable but at the same time made for looks as Hylarin women in particular like to draw attention to their physical beauty, and tends to resemble an odd mix of what on Earth would be Italian and Japanese attire (someone wearing a tunic and bodice next to someone wearing a kimono is a common sight in their cities). Favorite Hylarin hobbies include various forms of visual and auditory art, athletics, and adventure; Hylarin adventurers are very common, amounting to perhaps three fourths of their population at some point in their lives.

Hylar typically marry young and remain married for life. They typically have about four children per family, assuming the family lives long enough to have them; their adventuring lives take their toll on Hylarin survivability. Like most of the tribes in their Empire, the Hylar consider marriage to be both a right and, to an extent, a responsibility, although not one to be forced on their citizens: any individual who wishes to have a marriage arranged for him or her by the state is entitled to it, but individuals are never compelled to marry. Hylar, for the most part, make fairly liberal use of the Temple's laws concerning extramarital affairs: if your spouse wants you to do it, then there is nothing wrong with it, and most Hylar are happy to share their spouses with those whom they consider worthy.


Religion
Hylarin religion is the focal piece of the entire Empire, and deserves an article all unto itself (see the Hylarin Temple article, when it is up). The Hylar believe that they were chosen by their three goddesses, a triumvirate of Varda, Yavanna, and Estë, to represent the New Elven Covenant, a belief by which they, as Elves, are fated to fade, but may pass on their grace to Men before their age in the world is done. Among the seven major tribes, the Hylar worship at the Temple of Light, and Light is the element of their priestesses, and the Hylar have more priestesses per capita than any of the other tribes. Similarly, nearly all of the Hylarin clergy are Elemental Priestesses; very few are Clerics, although they also have a not insignificant number of Druids.

Hylarin religious doctrine espouses many of the common traits of Elven religions: admiration natural beauty, respect for life, tolerance of other peoples and their customs as long as they are not actively threatening. Curiously, as far as some peoples are concerned, the Hylarin priestesses believe in no afterlife; Hylar have souls and reincarnate as all Elves do and the Hylar know this, but nonetheless they regard themselves as being the bodies that their souls inhabit, not the souls that pass from one body to the next. They feel that being a good person does not require being bribed into an enjoyable afterlife.


Military
Military life is an important part of Hylarin society, with a large fraction of the populace spending some time in their lives training in the military, and with all able-bodied citizens to participate in the militia. Indeed, it is in training for the militia or in the military that a large fraction of Hylarin couples meet and marry, after which they typically spend a number of years adventuring, sometimes and sometimes not nominally on military missions (usually of the reconnaissance sort).

Organizationally, the Hylarin army is divided into legions, of which each legion has contingents of scouts, infantry, archers, cavalry, logistics, and artillery, although many of the modes have multiple functions: the archers are the ones with the longbows, but everyone will have some kind of bow, the logistics personnel have ballistas in their wagons, and so forth. This versatility, combined with uperior reconnaissance and mobility are extremely important in Hylarin military tactics, although they do carry and use heavy armor in closed-in scenarios where their mobility is less useful, and for shock troops.

Some have described the Hylar as the world's most magical army, although those that do so seem unaware of the forces of Demons and Dragons that the great enemy of the Hylar, the Dark Prince, has used. The Hylar use a bewildering array of communion and ritual-driven magics that shape combat scenarios in their favor, often switching magical strategies in order to keep enemies guessing of what they will do next. Rarely, however, do they make heavy reliance on direct combat magic. Their favorite strategies involve magics that bring additional soldiers, often militia, to the battlefield to negate combat losses, such as remotely-possessed illusions, summoning (since summoned creatures return unharmed to wherever they were summoned from), and divinations that allow them to explore multiple possible combat scenarios and pick the one with the most favorable outcome. When they opt to use a strategy that produces expendable troops, they use their expendability deliberately - they regard an extra life lived, even a short one, as better than a single longer one, and many Hylar if summoned to combat actually prefer to fall in battle and be restored by the nature of the summoning. See the appendix.


Game Rule Information
Typical alignments: LG, NG, CG
Typical Hylarin ability scores:
........Men.....Women
Str.....13.....10
Dex.....14.....15
Con.....12.....10
Int.....12.....12
Wis.....12.....13
Cha.....12.....13
*Hylarin women usually have Agile Athlete, Fit and Healthy, or both.
Most common class: Expert (men and women)
Most common level: 2
Favored PC Class: Fighter (men); Elemental Priestess (women)

[This message has been edited by Beren V (edited 01-05-2012 @ 12:31 PM).]

Topic 10 - Tribes and peoples in the Hylarin Empire II: Khelad-Mara

Biology and ancestry
The Khelad-Mara are dwarves, ostensibly of Durin's Folk and of the Longbeard clan, which is supported by linguistic, cultural, and physical similarities. According to legend, they are the descents of an expedition led by king Durin to follow Maialiwen's band and remained in order to assure their survival. Biologically, the Khelad-Mara are normal dwarves, for the most part, although many of them have elemental affinities for earth and fire that have led some to suspect that they took something more from Khazad-dûm than merely their ancestry, or that they, like the Hylar, are throwbacks to an earlier age of Dwarvenkind. No one knows for sure how many dwarves there are in the world today, as there are many clans and small kingdoms, but Khelad-Mara is very likely one of the larger ones, and may, like the Hylar, be the most populous dwarven civilization.

Government and culture
The realm of Khelad-Mara is located in the mountains far to the west and north of the Hylarin capital, and always at high elevation in the mountains: the deeper depths underneath their mountains are inhabited by more unsavory things, and the dwarves are well aware of this. Like most dwarves, their society is based on mining and smithing, and to a secondary extent on warfare, and they provide a large fraction of the Empire's metals. The government of Khelad-Mara is composed of a council of elders, who elect a leader among them nominally referred to as a king, but in reality is more of a chairman of the council. Membership of this council requires religious training, but it is not a theocracy: most of the council members are selected specifically for a diverse set of expertise, and are not all dedicated clerics.

The foothills of the mountains where the dwarves live are rich in game and nut-bearing trees, protected and promoted by a suborder of druids jointly run by the Hylarin and Khelad-Mara priesthoods, which provide a large component of the diet of the Khelad-Mara dwarves. However, a large portion of their food is grown elsewhere and traded for. Khelad-Mara clothing is generally drab, unostentatious, and functional. When a Khelad-Mara dwarf wants to look respectable, he wears armor.

Religion
The Khelad-Mara religion is distinctive from that of the other tribes of the Empire in several ways, largely due to the peripheral place they have in the New Elven Covenant: they are not elves passing their grace on to Men, nor are they Men inheriting it. First, it is far more concerned with the afterlife, believing that the dwarves must prove worthy so that Mahal (Aulë) may take them to Mandos when the time is right, and to allow them to return to Aulë's forge in the first place. They do worship the Hylarin pantheon, especially Yavanna, and have elemental priestesses of the Temple of Fire like the other tribes do, but they are dominated by more traditional dwarves religious elements. Their place in the Covenant, they believe, is should Maialiwen's line survive and succeed in its task, they will be taken to Aman along with the other withdrawn Elven civilizations. Still, Khelad-Mara dwarves bear the mark of interaction with elves and some of their Khazad-dûm ancestry: they respect nature almost as much as the elves themselves do, and dwarves druids, as mentioned above, are an important part of their clergy.

Military
Khelad-Mara, like most dwarves societies, maintains an active military in which every able-bodied citizen, male or female, trains with a variety of weapons and tactics. Because of the different physical natures of dwarves and elves, Khelad-Mara most often supplies shock troops to the Empire, but maintains its own composite army for internal defense. Most of the Khelad-Mara military strength is defensive: their fortresses are notoriously difficult to breach, have very abundant stores, and the druids that prowl the mountain valleys around their homes present a formidable defense in their own right, as does the weather of the mountains themselves. Khelad-Mara dwarves do not reproduce as rapidly as Hylarin elves do, however, and thus they avoid combat as much as they reasonably can, with their forces in battles frequently summoned using Hylarin magic to prevent actual losses. Khelad-Mara tactics tend to be more forceful and brutal than the Hylarin approach, while the Hylar, as is common with Elves, are more artistic.


Game Rule Information
Common alignments: LG, LN
Typical ability scores*:
Str 14
Dex 12
Con 14
Int 12
Wis 12
Cha 9
Most common class: Expert
Favored PC Class: Fighter
Most common level: 2
*Dwarves are not sexually dimorphic. Average men and women have the same stats.

[This message has been edited by Beren V (edited 01-18-2012 @ 02:55 PM).]

Topic 11 - Tribes and peoples in the Hylarin Empire: the Rulans


Biology and Ancestroy
The Rulans are racially human although many of them have some amount of elven blood, and make up the bulk of the population of the Hylarin Empire. Genetically, they are fairly indistinct, having fair to yellowish skin, a wide variety of hair colors but most often brown or black, and usually have brown (occasionally blue) eyes. Although human, they have better nutrition and medicine than most civilized human cultures, standing between five and six feet, weighing between 120 and 180 pounds, and usually living into their seventies (most civilized humans stand around five feet and die around sixty). Those with elven blood can live considerably longer, although still broadly human in lifespan. Censuses of their numbers place the total number of Rulans at approximately twenty million.

Racially, the Rulans are descended from the peoples who inhabited the Hylarin lands before the Hylar invaded thousands of years ago. Apart from the elven blood that many Rulans have, they are racially and culturally similar to the peoples of the States of Midor, and their heritage reflects this.


Government and culture
The Rulans generally try to emulate the Hylar as well as they reasonably can, adopting similar clothing styles, legal systems, and government. The Rulan tribal leadership consists of feudal lords under the power of several Grand Dukes, who are semi-independent rulers who answer directly to the Hylarin Emperor, and who convene to select representatives who participate in the Imperial government. The number of Grand Dukes changes fairly regularly, with families breaking up and merging on a semi-regular basis, occasionally with influxes of elven blood. Occasionally, these shifts involve some internal warfare, but this is limited so as to not gain the ire of the Imperial Legions. At present there are three, but this number should not be expected to be the same next generation, nor was it in the previous. More and more, however, the lands governed by the Grand Dukes are coming under the control of the Loyal Resistance.

Rulan agriculture focuses on cereals and livestock, with principal crops being wheat in the north and rice in the south. In towns and cities, they like to wear showy clothing, often emulating what the Hylar wear, but peasants in the farmlands wear functional and unremarkable clothes. Exactly how women in particular should dress is constantly in flux among the Rulans due to the desires of conflicting religious sects within their culture.

Rulans marry young, with arranged marriages being quite common among the nobility, with the exception that those being married are required to consent, as per Hylarin Temple law. Because of differences between human and elven biology (inability to suppress menstral cycles, susceptibility to STDs), extramarital affairs are much rarer and even frowned upon among the Rulans than among the Hylar, but the basic laws (allowed with consent of spouses) remain.


Religion
In the context of the rest of Hylarin religion, the priestesses who attend the Temple of Earth are Rulans. These women have much the same standards as those of their elven sisters that belong to the other tribes, and their dwarven, Khelad-Mara sisters in the Temple of Fire. Although their rites are different from the priestesses of the other elements, their beliefs are essentially the same.

In addition, however, the Rulans have another religion that plays an integral role in their society from the bottom up, and the Rulans have ranks of clerics up to high archbishops whose social and political influence rivals the Grand Dukes. This religion emphasizes cultivation and treatment of the soul, and, unlike the Hylarin faith, places heavy focus on the afterlife for those who accept the faith. There is a constant struggle by Rulan archbishops attempting to find ways around the Hylarin official allowance of religious freedom, including Rulan governments even attempting to ban popular religions that are not otherwise hostile, although these bans are not infrequently overturned by the Hylarin Temple. Rulan clerics regard the Hylarin Temple, its priestesses, and scriptures as sacred, and do not expect conversion from non-humans or from humans who do join the appropriate sect of the elemental Temples of the Hylar.


Military
The Rulan military consists of knights who owe their allegiances to feudal lords, and these knights demand military service from the peasants who work their land, although the absence of serfdom among these peasants puts limits on the extent of the conscription that the knights and their lords can enforce. Many Rulan lords also hire mercenary companies, who fill out the role of archers and heavy infantry for their armies, while the conscripts form rabble, the knights are the elite cavalry. There are also mounted patrols, also, although the Loyal Resistance employs far more of these. Peasant revolts are common enough that Rulan lords avoid arming the peasants as much as they might, however, especially since these revolts, when successful, usually wind up joining the Loyal Resistance.


Game Rule Information
Typical alignments: LG, LN, N
Typical Rulan ability scores:
........Men.....Women
Str.....11.....8
Dex.....10.....11
Con.....11.....10
Int.....10.....10
Wis.....10.....11
Cha.....10.....11
Most common class: Commoner (men and women)
Most common level: 1
Favored PC Class: Fighter (men); Rogue (women)

Topic 12 - Tribes and peoples in the Hylarin Empire IV: the Sicar


Biology and ancestry
The Sicar are Elves, but it's not immediately apparent where they came from. Sicar are generally blond, but their eye colors are most often red, amber, or a vibrant red-brown. Like the Hylar, the Sicar seem subject to the New Elven Covenant and have similar lifespans and demographics. The Sicar are less populous than the Hylar by several factors, but nonetheless offer a distinctive and important part of the peoples of their Empire.


Government and culture
Sicarin culture is as exotic as their origins. They have their own language, which is highly exotic, using a vocabulary that includes words from Sylvan, Celestial, and Infernal, with a grammatical base resembling that of Quenya. They live in mountains and deserts, preferring the semi-arid lands where deserts interface with mountains. For the most part, their communities are small, and even their capital city has a population of only five-thousand. Sicarin government consists of a number of profession-based Houses, each of which are organized and run in a guild-like fashion with masters and elders having a majority of the vote but not all of it. The Houses themselves in turn elect a senate-like council that governs their society.

Sicarin economics focuses on making low-durability crafts and limited agriculture, but more importantly they provide personnel services for much of the Empire - they are translators, accountants, spies, diplomates, and assassins. Sicarin clothing is simple, tight-fitting, and functional, preferring white and gray. Adventuring is also very common, but most Sicarin adventurers have more direct connections to their Houses and their government. A typical Hylarin adventurer chooses where she goes and what she does; a typical Sica has a mission.

Sicarin marriage customs use the same laws as the Hylar and the same basic premises. A typical Sica uses the extramarital clause less often, however (although not never).


Religion
The Sicar believe themselves to be the servants of the three Valier that the Hylar worship and loyal to the chosen heroes that the Goddesses select. This means the ancestors of the Hylarin royal family, the Line of Maialiwen. This means that the Sicar were the first tribe to join the Hylarin empire, and still do, but they refuse to answer to anyone but the Hylarin Temple and, by extension, the imperial family itself, which is largely why the Empire as a whole has the organization that it does. The imperial family, meanwhile, has honorary Sicar membership, unlike the rest of the Hylar.

Sicarin priesthoods are composed chiefly of priestesses worshipping at the Elemental Temple of Death, with the doctrine that Death is a natural part of living and should be accepted when and only when it is a living being's time. In practice, this means that their priestesses behave little differently from those of the Hylar, seeking to preserve life from forces that would end it prematurely. Hylarin and Sicarin priestess collaborate and communicate freely and frequently, since both priesthoods rely on a wide variety of skills, including both martial and stealth capabilities as well as magic. The Sicar also have clerics and healers that worship local deities, themselves servants of the Valier.


Military
Like the Hylar, the Sicar train everybody in their militia from a very young age, but the Sicar explicitly focus on stealth and speed in their military strategy and training, rather than on position and range. The Hylar hit their enemies from where their enemies cannot hit back; the Sicar merely hit first.

Although their militia is widespread and very well-trained as a militia, at least the equal of many trained armies, the Sicar do not themselves have a large, professional army. They rely on commandos when they go to war, performing surgical strikes. Sicarin warriors follow a strict code of honor, but this honor code emphasizes the end as much as the means: it is more honorable to deceive and strike an enemy from behind if doing so enables you to minimize total casualties than it is to fight an open battle and destroy the enemy's entire army. Nonetheless, they are loyal, brave, and, toward people who are not their enemies, extremely honorable.


Game Rule Information
Typical alignments: LG, NG, LN
........Men.....Women
Str.....12.....11
Dex.....15.....15
Con.....12.....10
Int.....12.....13
Wis.....12.....13
Cha.....12.....13
*Sicarin women usually have Agile Athlete, Fit and Healthy, or both.
Most common class: Expert (men and women)
Most common level: 2
Favored PC Class(es): Rogue (Scout, Ninja, Paladin)