Learn the lore of kingdoms four:
The Sky World, far above
The Fairy Land, so close at hand
Our Home, we know and love
The Realm Below where all souls go
When life comes to an end
Know the roads to each abode
Their signs and their portends
--Ison Siranox's
Little Book of Knowledge
Welcome to Anacra, the campaign setting of
Casters and Castles! You can learn more about the magic, history, characters and dangers of this world on this website, powered by
World Anvil!
Far from other realities, isolated in the cosmos, the Four Kingdoms of Anacra are home to wonder and horror, passion and despair, kindness and terrible cruelty. Four worlds, interlocking with each other, surrounded by a legion of watchful stars, eternal sentinels against the mysteries of the Hungry Dark. Formed from the dreams and substance of the World Before, the Four Kingdoms hang in the balance between annihilation and chaos.
What Should I Know about Anacra?
Fantasy
Anacra is a fantasy world, home to strange creatures and fantastic magic. If you're a fan of
Dungeons and Dragons, you'll be right at home here--if it exists in D&D, it exists somewhere in Anacra, though with some changes--not all
Elves dwell in fairy castles, not all
Dwarves love living underground, and the
Gods and cosmology are unique to this world.
That said, Anacra is also a vast world filled with many climates, nations, cultures, and environments. Not everyone you meet has knights and castles and kings and queens! Deserts, jungles, fantastic places under the oceans and atop the clouds themselves are home to diverse people and societies. An adventure in the Northern Kingdoms will look very different from one set in the Lanilam Jungles, and heroes from the desert of Sharan will have different stories to tell than those from the frozen fjords of Lagu and Sapen.
All sorts of adventures can take place in Anacra--from epic quests to save the very world to creeping horror inspired by the evil that lurks beneath the earth (or in the hearts of mortals).
A Young & Wounded World
The age of the Dawn ended just over two thousand years ago, and though mortals have had the guidance of
Gods and
Fairies to help them build great civilizations, they've also endured terrible catastrophes. Only five hundred years ago--within living memory for
dragons and ancient
elves--
Demons and
Fiends rampaged across the world, crushing mortals beneath their burning lash.
Since that time, new civilizations have arisen, built upon the ruins of those who served, escaped, or defied their Infernal masters. Between these bastions of order, the land is wild and filled with fantastic monsters. Magic and danger await any adventurer bold enough to journey beyond the walls of their homelands.
The Four Kingdoms
From the most learned sage to the most humble farmer, everyone in Anacra knows that there is more to the universe than the
Mortal World. Children's rhymes tell of the most well known planes of existence: the
Four Kingdoms. These unearthly realms are never far away--walk into a forest on a moonlit night, and you may stumble into a fairy's home. Descend into a deep cave, and you may never return from the land of the dead. And should you plant magical seeds, they may grow a beanstalk that leads all the way to the castles of
Giants !
Far above the lands where mortals dwell, there is a place where giants dwell in massive castles, growing grapes as big as your head. There are swamps of liquid smoke and forests of lightning. Every cloud in the sky is a pathway to the fantastic Sky Kingdom, a place of splendors and terrible natural power.
Flocks of
Aarakocra fly from cloud to cloud, trading and hunting. Winged elves called the
Aurai fight for their freedom against the
Knights of Terranimbus, whose swords echo with thunder. And from his storm-cloud palace the terrible Father of Giants and Sovereign of the Skies,
Vindur , casts judgement upon mortals and pours out wrath against all those who defy him.
Every village in the Mortal World has customs and superstitions. Leave gifts of bread and milk at night. Tie a knot of vines and hang it above your door. Never walk west towards the sunset while wearing red. And when the mists are thick on a moonlit, winter night, lock your doors and don't look at the moon.
Such tales and rituals are kept to appease the denizens of the
Otherworld, the realm of Faery, the Spirit World, the Feywild. A marvelous and deadly reflection of the
Mortal Realm, the
Otherworld is just around the corner. Step into a ring of toadstools, and you may step out into another forest entirely, a wild place where the trees sing songs, the sun never truly sets, and the great Fey Courts invite you to stay--forever.
Soaring mountains and endless oceans, wild plains and twilit forests, shining deserts and glistening cliffs, the Mortal Realm is a place of beauty. It lies at the heart of creation, nourished by the roots of the
Underworld , brightened by the light of
The Otherworld , and sweetened by the breath of the
Sky Kingdom.
Four massive continents border the
Endless Ocean, and on the South-Eastern continent of
Isatum the legendary
Ioth Academy, the greatest institute of magical learning in the four kingdoms, rose from the wide Khadara desert. To the North-East, Girru is home to the forest dwellers of the misty Caonach vale, the ten dragon tribes of
Okarthel, the proud and warlike
Northern Kingdoms and beyond them all the
Great Northern Wilds.
The Endless Ocean is an uncharted depth filled with magic and perilous beasts. Somewhere in this expanse lies
Tamreon, the Torn Land. Legends say that beneath ,
Li-Ban, Sovereign of the Seas, wrestles with an
abomination that fell from the sky.
No tree can flourish without roots, and a well with no spring will run dry. Beneath the other three kingdom lies the
Underworld. It is a place of darkness and light, peace and terror, destruction and renewal. Here are the very wellsprings of the elements, flowing up to form the substance of the
Mortal Realm. Here, too, are the terrible domains of the
Infernals, ancient fiends that hungered for the light of Anacra and loathe all who dwell in the Four Kingdoms.
When mortals perish, their souls must make the perilous journey across five rivers and through the Adamant Gates, into the
Kingdom of Shadows. Here dwells
Ramius, the Stern Lord, the Final Judge, King of the Dead, and under his rule such souls join his army and protect the
Underworld from ravenous and conniving fiends.
History of Anacra
There was a time, long ago, when dreams and wishes really could come true. Under the gentle guidance of the four
Elemental Sovereigns, the world filled with light and wonder, bending itself to match the thoughts and hopes of its creatures. Heroes and gods imagined palaces of crystal and gardens of music, and they became real. Lovers set the sky ablaze with a thousand colors of light. It was the
Dawn, and in that time of beauty and truth, anything was possible.
Until the Infernals came.
Legions of greedy, cruel tyrants poured into Anacra from the Hungry Dark, seizing the Dawn, crushing its children, tearing away their stories and works. By treachery and violence they shattered
Luminias, the City of Light. It seemed no force would stop them or their terrible general,
Uzhul, Lord of Destruction.
Then the doors of the
Silent City swung open, and the dragons of the
World Before poured out. By their wrath the Infernals fell, driven into hiding, their fiendish armies crushed. But the
Sovereigns knew others would be drawn to Anacra's Light. Together they wove the threads of the Dawn into the
Four Kingdoms--Sky Kingdom, Mortal World, Oherworld, and Underworld. Folded in on each other in a protective shell, the new world would be protected from the ravages of the
Hungry Dark. But the Light of Dawn was now bound up in creation. Now new creatures would be born, formed of the elements, and it is in the hands of these
Mortals that the future of Anacra now lies.
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