Astora

1450 ACR

Created by

hamilcarbarca

Scope

The motivation behind building Astora

This site is intended to be a "one stop shop" for everything in my campaign world. Rules, mechanics, lore, geography, and campaign stories will all eventually reside here.

The goal of the project

My goal is to have this as a central and primary reference for any players in my campaign, as well as for myself.

Astora's Unique Selling point

The setting of this world is my own custom flair on the classic DnD landscape. I've taken inspiration from Forgotten Realms, custom campaign worlds I've been a player for in the past, and Golarion to create a world with what I find to be interesting concepts and lore without being overwhelmingly huge. As yet unrevealed large plans are underway to put a much more interesting twist on things, but that is still to come.

Theme

Genre

This is a classic DnD style world. Technology is largely late-medeival to early renaissance, with gunpowder still just out of reach. Magic is distributed somewhat unequally, but overall it is a mid to high magic world. Lower level capabilities are commonplace, and powerful magics are rare but not unheard of. Being a world rebuilding from the rubble of past destruction, there is a great deal of arcane and divine wonder that has not yet been rediscovered, but still exists as relics of ages long gone.

Reader Experience

The world feels safer than it has for centuries, with nations building into longstanding sources of stability, and staving off the wilderness that surrounds them more so than it has for millenia. This does not mean that it lives up to the grandeur and development of ages past, but more people than ever now live with enough stability around them to pursue achievements beyond mere survival and safety. That said, there is an air of tension as well. While some nations languish over centuries of decay and others hold firm as minor powers, several are beginning to look to greater heights, and coming into conflict with their surroundings. To those sages in history, no nation has risen to such heights without an eventual catastrophic collapse, and they speak unheeded warnings of the folly that is in such strivings. The world's history has been quiet for an age, but greater things are beginning to happen that could spell glory or doom to all.

Reader Tone

The tone of the world varies by locale, but in general is a relatively positive one. There are still evil doers and nations bent on destructive paths, but there are large pockets of goodly peoples living in goodly lands. War is ever present, and suffering at the hands of raiders, monsters, invasions, and disease are a part of life for many, but the outlook for most is one of positivity, as the world seems to be getting better with each passing generation, and the true dark days of civilization lie in the distant past.

Recurring Themes

Civilization today lives in the ruins of past greatness. Ancient works far outstrip anything that can be created today.
Past lessons teach of the folly of man's constant drive for new heights of power and knowledge. Pride goes before the fall.
While things have been steadily improving, the world today still seems a bit of a backwater, especially once things progress to the interplanar scale.

Character Agency

Characters should feel an agency commensurate with their level. Newly starting adventurers may struggle to make an impact beyond a very localized area, but as they gain experience and power they increasingly affect the world around them at large. By the time their careers reach their peak, they are capable of permanent, world-changing outcomes, and their actions will have ripples that are felt throughout the realms. This is not to say that actions taken early will not have far reaching impacts, only that the characters may not understand or have control of those effects.

Focus

Military Expansion: Several nations are beginning to push their borders, testing their neighbors for weakness and opportunities to increase their influence.

Magic: Arcane and divine scholars are trying to recapture and relearn ancient secrets to powers far beyond their current capacity. The past is full of dangers and cautionary tales, but the achievements scattered throughout it is a compelling drive to uncover lost knowledge.

Good versus Evil: While morally gray areas exist in this world just as any other, there are also very clearly defined divisions between the forces of good and evil. These forces have been at war for longer than this world has existed, and many devote themselves to one side or the other, as well as those devoted to maintaining a balance between them. Law versus Chaos: Even more fundamental than good vs evil is the struggle between order and disorder. Frontier settlements battling beasts and bandits, Nations battling the monstrous tribes of the wildlands, even the planar forces of Order fighting to maintain the structures they built eons ago. The primal conflict of existence seems bent around this struggle, and it shows through in every part of it.

Societal Rules: Much of the people of this world have solved many of the common societal problems faced by civilizations. Gender equality is near universal, racial persecution is considered bad form in many developed nations, and most live without fear of oppression based on their beliefs and identities.

This website is a conglomeration of material from various sources and has been created for players in my campaign world and not for the purposes of monetization.