Isekai Homepage | World Anvil - Isekai Codex

Isekai has started its grand restructuring! Please bear with us as things move around and get situated in their new home.
Names are also in the process of changing, so some names are inconsistent currently.

Isekai

Year 300 of the Aftermath

Scope

The motivation behind building Isekai

After years of playing D&D and other games in a variety of worlds, we wanted an all-encompassing world that would essentially be our end all, be all for any future games we would play or stories that we would write. Isekai started as a world to play D&D in, but that has changed so our motivation lies in making Isekai everything we want it to be, for our stories and our own TTRPG system.

The goal of the project

We hope to build a world that is our creative passion for years to come and may lead to a finally completed TTRPG system and many written stories.

Isekai's Unique Selling point

The history and size of Isekai are vast, covering roughly 900,000 years and millions of miles in land, sea, and other planes. The magic of the world brings with it incredible creatures of a magnitude and power that we feel aren't always the norm in fantasy games.

Theme

Genre

Sword & Sorcery, Historical, Isekai, Fantasy, Cosmic Horror, & High Magic

Reader Experience

Isekai is a large, expansive world that has near endless possibilities to build an epic campaign or story. Failure is common, both in the games that are played in the world and the stories that are written, but that does not mean that hope cannot be found in the world.

Reader Tone

Isekai combines high and dark fantasy, leaning either way depending on what part of the lore you may be looking at.

Recurring Themes

There is a theme of tragedy, but the greatest theme is overcoming tragedies and moving forward. The world continued through the Eldritch War and will continue long past any other tragedy as well.

Character Agency

If characters live, they can enact lasting impacts on the world. Due to Isekai's history and the tones and themes represented in the world, campaigns in the world have lovingly been referred to as "hard mode" because death is very prevalent in the world and something that characters deal with on a nearly daily basis.

Focus

Religious Influence
Celestial beings have nigh-omnipotent power but have an accord that extends only into recent history, before this time they were highly involved with the affairs of mortals. They still grant powers, omens, and authorities to mortals directly so that it is not a question of if gods exist or whether to acknowledge them but rather what god you align under.
Race Relations
There are races that are vastly interconnected, some with divine charges from celestial beings and others that stumbled into the world seemingly by mistake or chance. These races clash and meld in various ways that are often dictated heavily by circumstance, hardship, or common enemy but seldom do lifelong enemies find themselves allied past the need for survival.
Military Influence
Wars spanning generations have come and gone, remembered through song but long forgotten by the ground that such conflict took place. There are those that reach for power, to ascend to the realm of gods and others that would see their kin take their place among the more ancient and respected races, unlocking hidden potential and laying claim to rights that have been claimed sacred though some are imagined.
Extra-Planar Influence
The natural state of the world attracts the attention of fearsome entities that roam the vastness of space and time, some allied with the gods while others are outcast and stand in opposition. Still, others are forces of nature that are beyond difficult to control, following and introducing aspects of reality that have yet to be discovered or understood.
Natural Mysticism
The world of Isekai is overflowing with natural power, mystic and arcane alike. In some areas the laws of magic are subverted by pure power as the will of the world expresses a desire or emotion and in other places pure arcane energy bursts from the ground with unpredictable power. There are few wounds that the world cannot heal from and even fewer names that the world will refuse to forget with the passage of time.

Drama

The Gods
Over 50,000 years ago the gods of Isekai came to an agreement that they would no longer walk among mortals without invocation or immense faith on the part of a chosen avatar. This was to instill independence in the many creatures of the world so that they could care for themselves instead of standing in the shadows of immortal beings.
Humans' Divine Right
Humans have had the divine right of using guns exclusively, few know the true origins of why any gun will turn to ash when wielded directly or indirectly by the hand of any race save for that of a human.
The Eldritch War
The Eldritch War caused divides in the world, between people of all races, but the greatest divide was between the gods. There were those that wished to help those suffering in Isekai and those that believed it was their duty to watch as more of Isekai succumbed to the Eldritch horrors.
The Black Children
The Black Children are a phenomenon that appeared after the end of the Eldritch War. These people have power beyond measure, but no one is sure as to where they came from or how they came to exist in the world of Isekai.
Lost History
History is full of odd gaps, civilizations that should be there are seemingly absent. Disappearing overnight at the pinnacle of their power. Ancient beings from the races of Fey, Djinn, Sphinxes, and Dragons move about the world with an only passing regard for mortals. However, their secrets may fill in the gaps that have arisen in the histories of the world if they were somehow convinced to impart their knowledge.

Powered by World Anvil