Estral

Estral is a continent defined by two warring nations: the declining empire of Croy, and the rising republic of Aria. The war has been going on for 60 years, and both nations' military forces and national morale are running low, so today most of the fighting is done by mercenary companies with little oversight and even less loyalty. This has resulted in much of the land in between Croy and Aria becoming war-torn and inundated with death, a No Man's Land of broken towns and salted earth, especially with the recent invention of black powder weapons. Meanwhile, slumbering deep beneath the earth are eons-old gods of chaos, who may wake at any time to flatten the surface of the land.   Four common races reside in Estral. Humans are the most common species and make up the bulk of both Croy and Aria's populations. They are an industrious and ambitious race wishing to build an ever-greater civilization. Dwarves live among the humans, mostly in Croy. Dwarves remember the last time the deep ones awoke and destroyed the world; after thousands of years in their underground hiding places they returned to the surface, but not without being ingrained with a survivalist instinct and somewhat fatalistic worldview. Orcs remember their once-great empire while today living as second-class citizens in human society. Finally, elves hail from across the sea, arriving in what is now Aria less than two hundred years ago and using their innate sorcery to help the humans of that land build a wondrous republic devoted to the elven god of magic.   Estral is a land of conflict, and not just the conflict between Croy and Aria. Tradition and progress, technology and nature, magic and science, war and peace, mortal ambition and cosmic indifference - these are just a few of the defining conflicts of Estral. It is up to the player characters to take their sides as they gain power and prestige, or suffer the same grim fate as so many would-be rulers before them.   Inspirations for Estral's tone and themes:

• Princess Mononoke
• Conan the Barbarian
• The works of H. P. Lovecraft and Edgar Rice Burroughs
• Berserk
• British and Irish myths
• Lamentations of the Flame Princess and Veins of the Earth
• The Black Company series by Glen Cook
• Adventure Time
• Off