Nerevia
Scope
The motivation behind building Nerevia
Intended to be a living, open world with plenty of open-ended conflict and a variety of issues that are all different shades of gray. This world is a place where we can write stories and quests to challenge the player characters' senses of justice and morality and let them decide where they fall and how the interlocking stories play out, while also containing a central narrative thread (the shards of creation) that they can all latch on to from the beginning.
The goal of the project
A setting for a D&D campaign, hopefully lots of laughs and serious moments in equal measure. A good time for my players and a good environment to have fun with some of my own characters as well.
Nerevia's Unique Selling point
The Shards of Boccob's Heart, a magical crystal that contained the very magic of absolute creation itself. The shards have been scattered all over the world and have left chaos in their wake - Opening portals to other planes, decreasing property values, and unleashing a mysterious mind-altering mist upon the land.
The four nations all had a claim to the power of creation, or at least they thought they did, and that has pushed them into an era of strife that coincided with the scattering of the shards. The world is in a very volatile state, which presents an opportunity for this ragtag group of heroes (as the Pale Wardens) to attempt to bring unity back to the land or further drive it apart as they search for the shards.
Theme
Genre
A mesh of a high-fantasy Lord of the Rings-esque world with elements of steampunk and tech-magic (Primarily focused in one of the four nations). Both airships and seafaring ships exist, with airships still being an experimental new technology that's restricted to primarily the use of the rich, famous, or otherwise important.
Thanks to recent technological advances, consumer-grade tech-magic devices called Codices have started becoming more available even for those untrained in traditional magic. Primitive guns do also exist, but the Dorter Militia still has an iron grip on the technology and uses it as their trump card in conflicts. As a result, guns are quite rare to see outside of Dorter itself.
Reader Experience
The world should feel equal parts mystical and terrifying - Since the very forces of creation have been disturbed, there's some extreme magical circumstances at play and the laws of reality have been known to bend when in proximity to a Shard or its bearer.
In practice, adventurers could be confronted with beautiful vistas that would be impossible otherwise (think waterfalls flowing upward, flora and fauna from other realities), or by terrifying beasts from another plane among a warped reflection of the surrounding area.
Each nation has its own ideas about whether the past, present, or future are most important - but one thing remains constant among them. Nerevia is in danger and something must be done.
Reader Tone
Not quite as grimdark as something like Game of Thrones, but definitely touching on a couple hard-hitting subjects that may or may not have clear answers.
All the elemental races live in constant fear that one day, their mind will be shattered and they'll join the ranks of feral elementals that have mostly been rounded up into Alienages within the capitals of the nations.
General quality of life for the rest of the world is good, though in decline due to the extended global wartime period.
Recurring Themes
If given the power to grant any wish, what would happen to mankind?
Is it right to make others suffer for your own happiness?
Is it possible to create a reality where everyone is happy?
Character Agency
The world is your oyster. Make alliances, break them, do whatever. I'm going to strive to let the players have as much agency as possible, including making long lasting change if they play their cards right.
Focus
Drama
Boccob's Heart (the source of creation magic) was stolen from the grand vault of Myrinthal. This marks the first time the vault has been breached, and Myrinthal is up in arms and directing its anger at all the other nations since none of them have taken responsibility for the break-in. This has lead to even more increased militarization and mobilization of their forces.
Meteor shower, lots of impact sites that have spawned a mind-altering mist that drives people to madness. This is a looming threat to the entire world, and all the nations have felt its effects. The shards themselves are highly sought after as sources of magic power (but recovering them is always a risky task), as they are fragments of Boccob's Heart.