Information for Players in the World of Athoria
Athoria is a realm afflicted by rifts that open to other realms, seemingly at random times and locations across the land. Various groups have organised to prevent or exploit these rifts for the threats and oppertunities they provide.
Current World History
The current world state is one where the Gods have Deparated the world and Rifts have begun opening more often. Worst is a new Moon-Break is predicted in the coming future. Various factions take advantage of the rifts, either closing them for coin or finding rare materials from other realms.
The Country of Velinshad is the primary setting, with various locations around the continent of Ithirion. There are numerous settings and the planar portals offer multiple places to visit.
Common Races of Athoria
Humans
The most common race on Athoria, these people spread over many areas of the world. They are an adaptive people, being able to procreate with other races along with being the most common race afflicted with Riftborne children.
Elves
Elves live culturally rich lives with nearly all elves engaging in a rite of Soul Transferal from a Warden Tree while young. This means elven souls grow and mature over generations, passing on knowledge and wisdom of the past to each elf.
Dwarves
Dwarves are a hardy people who thrive in some of the hardest conditions, Dwarves can be found thriving despite most rough conditions. With this hardyness, many dwarves in ancient times were explorers of the harshest environments. Many dwarves maintain this wonderlust, having a drive to see natural wonders such as crystal caves or grand coral reefs. This also leads to many dwarf tourists along with adventurers.
Halflings
The smaller race fit in wherever they can around the world. They often go unoticed by the wider population but are a vital part of the world, doing small tasks with an eagerness for a job well done. Often driven by small victories and goals, the simplest of tasks fulfill these small people.
Gnomes
Gnomes have muted senses and as such tend to spend more time on their work to gain a long term enjoyment from it. Due to their longer lived lifes, they are typically a people who take their time and patience to create and enjoy the longer term things in life. This leads to gnomes being inventors, growers, or travellers.
Tortles
Tortles live in groups around the world based on the four elements. Tortles have a natural affinity when born to one of the four elements so clans gather around specific elements. Many druids and sorcerers come from Tortle society manipulating the elemental type they are born into.
Iron Forged
The Iron Forged are a recent addition to the world under the Order of Saint Lyra. They are created from existing humanoids giving up their bodies to take over a body merged of metal and flesh. While a newer people in the world, due to their quickly growing numbers most people will at least have heard of them even if never seen one.
Goblins
Goblins live in the here and now. Their senses are hightened in a way that makes even simple fruit taste amazing or simple smells elicit intense reactions. This intense reaction to just about everything meant goblins never really built their own society and instead live among other societies to get access to the things they love, and avoid things they hate. This has led to them being abused sometimes by other races but also can lead to them delving into criminal activities to get by.
Orcs
Orcs have a connection with the earth few others have. Rather than elemental based such as rift based elements they seem more bonded with the planet itself. This leads them to having sometimes a simplistic way of life as seen from other societies with a more nomadic and simple life style that respects the earth and does little to harm it.
Riftborn
Riftborne are the individuals who's conception or birth was located near an open or only recently closed rift. The energy from the rifts leaking out into the world would infuse into the unborn child, changing them into something else. Some Riftborn are unchanged from their base race but gain imbued powers (Such as sorcerers) but some are effected in such a way that they are considered a different race to their parantage.
This group cover races such as Changlings, Tieflings, Aasimar, Genasai and Satyr, along with others.
Classes
Artificer
Athoria is in an age of technological advanament and magic inervation. Artificers are the inventors who take their new devices out into the field to test their new creations themselves.
Barbarian
The Darishar Plains in the South of Athoria are known for their barbarian tribes who follow different paths and pacts. In the rest of the world, small clans may have members of barbarians or certain individuals having an inate ability to ignore pain and fight with unmatched ferocity.
Bard
Some people say the world was Sung into Existance. Bards lend credance to this myth as their songs and music are able to create and manipulate the mana of the world to create spell effects. They may be fabuless peformers or skilled dancers to manipulate the magic of the world.
Cleric
With the Gods departed, Clerics gain their powers from other sources. Devotion allows them to draw on the energy left behind by their dieties despite their absence. High Ranked Celestials still fill the terms of communication with the Divine when needed. Clerics who follow other religions (such as The Blazing Faith) are able to pull energy and magic from the shared power of belief all followers create with a link between each member of the Religion.
Druid
Druids come in various flavours across Athoria. There are those who embrace the planar chaos of the world, becoming one with the elemental rift energy and turning it into use rather than desctruction. Others seek to preserve the natural world without the taint of outside forces.
Fighter
Fighter's Gunna Fight.
Monk
Various organisations exist over the world to train individuals in perfecting their bodies via martial arts or other methods such as dance under The Insititute of Grace.
Paladin
Paladin's power comes from a similar place as Clerics in the power of believe, but rather than a shared collective belief, it is a sheer force of their own duty and oath's that grant them powers. Some Scholars believe this is due to the God's Departure granting a slither of divinity to mortals to balance the missing Divine in this regard but no one knows why some people with strong enough convictions can use such powers.
Ranger
Rangers are often skilled hunters and tracks that often specialise in tracking certain dangers from Rifts, to either hunt those creatures or do their best to avoid them.
Rogue
Rogue's Gunna Rogue.
Sorcerer
The most common source of sorcerous powers is caused by being Riftborne. Some Riftborne may not experience any physical changes but instead find the magic of the realm they were born under mingled in their blood. While this mostly reveals itself with magic tied to their birth plane, the magic in their blood allow Sorcerer's to manipulate the mana of the world to create spells unalligned with their birth plane.
Warlock
There are plenty of powerful beings from Athoria along with the other planes that Warlocks can gain their powers from. Those from other planes usually seek ways to cross over to the material world for the exchange of power.
Wizard
Wizard's learn to manipulate the mana of the world and turn this latent energy into spell effects. Students of magic often attend set places of education or private tutalage although some have been known to be self taught among the truely savant.
Factions
Rift Hunters
The Rift Hunters are a loosely knit organisations of mercenaries who work to close Rifts across the world. In Recent years they have fallen into lower reputation with most folk, being seen more as common sellswords than a noble profession these days.
Order of Saint Lyra
A Religious order who believe in purity and divine protection via Metallurgy and Technology advancement. Have become a leading group in closing Rifts with their strict disipline and skilled warriors, templars and priests.
Odd Jobbers
A worldwide mercanary company who pickup any jobs for recovering magical item or reagents. These groups often venture into Rifts or their tainted locations to gain magically infused objects for coin.
Scientia Chroniclers
A group of scientists who endevour to study the way the Rifts impact the world. The group has small groups within itself who work in different ways. The most common groups encountered out in the world are the field agents who travel to rift influenced areas to learn what they can.
Changes to Magic
Some spells have had their abilities slightly altered or lore wise have had additional flavour added to them. Details for this can be found here: Changes to spells. These are minor changes to avoid huge differences between RAW and in game, but notable for side effects and world building. (such as how to find Teleportation Circles)
The sources of magic is changes as well slightly. Divine magic comes from the energy leftover from the Gods' Departure, eithr invested in the world or granted from celestials. Nature and Arcane magic tap into different aspects of the other planes where the viel is thin between them, nature magic pulls the magic directly from the planes while arcane manipulates the viel itself to allow certain energy through.
Death in Athoria
When a creature dies, thei spirit passes to the Realm of Death. Here they are greeted by an Entity know as "The Kind Wayfarer" who leads them to the afterlife. No one knows what the true afterlife is like, and anyone who is ressurected from there recalls what or how it was to be there.
If a creature refuses to follow The Kind Wayfarer the the afterlife, the become a resless shade, unable to eat, sleep or drink and trapped in the shadowed realm. This is how malevolent spirits come to be, drven to insanity by this unending existance.
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