The Fledgling's Guide to Syrioc

Hi Players! I'm writing this as an introduction to my campaign world and am using it to spell out some information you might want to know. What's this snazzy website you're using here Clara?
Good question. The site you're on right now is WorldAnvil, which I've been using as an official place to write information about literally everything in/on Syrioc (if you ever plan to DM I would highly recommend). My world does have a home page which probably won't be very useful to you all, as well as a lot of private articles that are similarly unhelpful. As you begin to discover and interact with the lore of Syrioc, I can unlock articles for you as supplements to whatever notes you're taking (or not taking, let's be honest here).

So, now that I've told you all about the stuff you can't access yet, I should probably tell you about the fun stuff you can (and should!). There are a few non-spoilery articles that I've published that you should definitely check out. Such as the Standard Syrioc Calendar, the Lyrian ethnicity, the Centaur species, and the Goddess Lyra the Leprechaun.

There are also fun maps you can explore to your heart's content that are accessible from the homepage. (I don't have maps for every country yet because whoops, but all the maps currently posted have countries that are pretty well worldbuilt).

The last thing of note that you can read right now is the Syrioc Timeline. I'd recommend reading the Era descriptions for a brief history of the Craton. Hey! What's a craton? All you need to know is that Craton is synonymous with continent and I'm not allowed to use the word continent because... reasons. Also sometimes I call Syrioc Craton I. Just don't question it.

Characters

We're playing D&D, you're going to be making a character, its what you do. If you've made a character that you're really excited to play, great! Private message me on discord and we can work out where your character hails from in relation to the rest of the craton and any backstory things. If not, you can take inspiration from any of the settings I talk about below and design them accordingly. If there's a certain city or country you find interesting, go ahead and look at what the racial demographics are and go from there. Ethnicities are also a big thing that I'm going to be playing with. I've created 11 of them, and you can see their geographic locations in the ethnicities map here on WorldAnvil.

Languages

Racial languages are dumb. There, I've said it. So we're just going to throw them in the garbage for right now and go with ethnic langauges. If you're creating a character and get to know common and 2 other languages, I'll let you just trade in whatever racial languages the game gives you for an equal amount of ethnic languages. Just message me when you're creating your character and we can work out what makes sense.

If you're interested in doing voices / accents, the ethnicities are where those come in. The general cheat sheet for language accents as compared to what we here know is this:

Wyrnian- Two dialects: Boquois Wyrnian (French accent) and Preskov Wyrnian (Slavic Accent)
Aglian- Posh/Received Prononciation English Accent
Dorry Aglian- Cockney accent
Malelan- Scottish Accent
Lyrian- Irish accent
Margernian- USA Midwest/Canadian accent
Maarlons- NYC/New Jersey accent mixed with 1920s slang
Katank- No accent decided for this one. The ethnicity is based on Ancient Egypt
Tethern- Southern USA, pick your poison for which one
Mucci- Italian accent
Desertspeech- Australian Accent

Countries

Syrioc isn't 100% completed yet, it's probably not even 50%, so I don't have in-depth ideas about all of these countries. Despite that, if you chose to have one included in your backstory, that will definitely motivate me to develop it more. Also, be sure to take into account how realistic it is if your character's backstory involves 3 or 4 different countries. Cross-country travel doesn't happen that often for commoners, so definitely be mindful of how much you're involving in that area.

/* rate each country by how fleshed out it is out of 5*/

Liliam

Liliam was the first country I ever homebrewed for D&D. It existed before I even knew what the rest of Syrioc looked like. It's definitely the most conventional high fantasy/medieval country in Syrioc, with four racially segregated kingdoms (Dwarves, Elves, Humans, and Halflings) and one kingdom that's just sort of a big mixing pot. ~~You're going to be starting in year 783ME during the month of Terra,~~ and during that time there was an absolute monarchy with a king and a few nobles ruling everything.

Main Playable Races*: Dwarves, Elves, Humans, Halflings, Gnomes Political System: Absolute Monarchy

*You can assume that most countries have humans in them and countries with humans and elves probably have half-elves

Tauth

Tauth is one of the three northernmost countries in Syrioc. It gets incredibly cold there. Note that races from these countries differ from their southern counterparts. For example, a Minotaur from Tauth who is Malelan ethnically would differ culturally and linguistically compared to a Minotaur living in Taur or Daemor, despite being the same race biologically.

Main Playable Races: Mountain Dwarves, Minotaur, Hobgoblins, Goliaths, Wood Elves, Dragonborn, Humans, Halflings, and Dark Elves (basically drow, but we call them Dark Elves for mysterious reasons)
Political System: Because travel in Tauth is generally cold and uncomfortable, politics are handled locally in cities and the surrounding towns.

Trekalt

I wrote an article! Check it out at Trekalt! Note that we will be starting our campaign here so maybe put something in your backstory explaining your presence and why you were arrested. You don't have to be guilty at all, in fact it's more interesting if you're not, so let your imagination run wild. Also definitely read the Dark Elf article for further information about the city of Ryn Sol.

Main Playable Races: Sprites, Dwarves, Wood Elves, Dark Elves, Humans, Dragonborn, Minotaur, and Satyrs

Vestraje

Vestraje is similar to Trekalt but is ethnically homogenous. It's super fey and basically everyone is Lyrian and worships Lyra. It has a pretty low population and isn't very politically active.

Main Playable Races: Sprites, Dwarves, Wood Elves, Dark Elves, High Elves, Gnomes, Halflings

Omyril

Omyril is unique because of the majority slaad population who live there. Slaad are toad humanoids who I'll cover later on. The climate doesn't allow for snow, but frost does happen sometimes. The main differentiating geographical features are its wetlands (which are the main reason so many slaad live there). Its political system is an Oligarchy/Plutocracy where a few of the richest slaad families control everything. Money and gold is very important here, and its capitalist economy is very unforgiving of lower-class inhabitants, leaving them to live in squalid and inhumane conditions. Fey are disliked in slaad-majority regions, but there are a few cities like Lofton and Staryl's rock that serve as a haven for non-slaad.

Main Playable Races: Slaad, Hobgoblins, Halflings, Gnomes, and Sprites

Taberram

Taberram is the biggest country in Syrioc, and acts as the point of transition between the northern parts of Syrioc and the Southern countries. Over half of the ethnicities in syrioc can be found in various locations in this country. Much of the northern half of the country carries fey influences, which then transitions into Merfolk bay, the enormous gulf on the eastern coast. Taberram is the most diverse of Syrioc's countries and its vast trade network allows it to flourish.

Main Playable Races: High/Wood Elves, Satyrs, Sprites,Triton, Gnomes, Dragonborn, Hobgoblins, Humans, and Halflings

Knowher

You can read the above article for information about this country, but it's basically a shroud of weird magical mystery mixed with culture inspired by Ancient Egypt. Like Vestraje, Knowher only has one ethnicity: Katank. If you want to play someone from Knowher talk to me about it first.

Main Playable Races: Aasimar, Half-Elves, High Elves, Gnomes, Satyrs, Githyanki, and Githzerai

Slaafgeld

Slaafgeld is similar to Omyril but doesn't have as much northern influence. It's also majority slaad but there are some southern races that spill over from Taur and Tabberam. The country prospers from coast wide trade with Merfolk bay and—like Omyril—values gold over everything else.

Main Playable Races: Slaad, Centaur, Firenewt, Dragonborn, Tlincalli, Gith

Notaris

Notaris is a small, ethnically singular country with surprisingly progressive social and technological systems set in place. It is the native country for Kuo-Toa; stout, fishlike humanoids who are usually only found in Syrioc's southwestern regions. Notaris is the only secular country in all of Syrioc. The inhabitants choose to worship three abstract creative ideas: Art, Literature, and Science. Its three cities are embodiments of these ideas and have become cultural landmarks for creative achievement in Syrioc. Currency in Notaris differs from the rest of Syrioc. Gold is discouraged from use and paper money is preferred. If you're playing a character from Notaris just make sure to note that you have paper money instead of gp.

Main Playable Races: Kuo-Toa, Humans, High Elves, Half-Elves, Githzerai, Hobgoblins

Navine

This tropical country is a popular vacation spot for travelers looking to have a good time as well as devout followers of the Shandelle Church. Navine is mainly run by religious leaders hoping to spread and maintain the Puritan teachings of Shandelle religion, which often clashes with the "anything-goes" attitude held by the tourists that arrive. (Basically fantasy Catholics).

Main Playable Races: Firenewts, Tlincalli, Minotaur, Wood Elves (of the jungle variety), Gith, Hobgoblins, Humans

Daemor

Daemor is really less of a country and more of an anti-country. Here, chaos and anarchy rules. By entering its borders one sacrifices all the protections and security put in place by regular society in favor of doing whatever they like. Daemor houses many of the more monstrous races, who make their home in its scorching deserts and savannas. Gold is nothing more than a shiny thing to melt down and wear as jewelry in this country, and worth is solely dependent on the utility of an object.

Main Playable races: Goblins, Kobolds, Tlincalli, Firenewt, Tieflings, and Goliaths. More Races: Ogres, Giants, Trolls, Cyclops,

Taur

And the last stop of our world-tour lands us in Taur. It's similar to Daemor in a lot of ways—a barter economy with no major government to speak of—but Taur is not the hurricane of anarchy that Daemor likes to maintain. Its chaos is the chaos of nature itself, rejecting traditional society as an unfortunate departure from a truer existence. It is not like the nature worship of the fey, with lush, green forests and plentiful plantlife. It is rather an appreciation for the dust and sand that coats the landscape; and an acknowledgment of bestial nature not as a detriment, but as a gift.

Main Playable Races: Centaur, Minotaur, Kobolds, Tlincalli, and Firenewt

Religion

If you've read through the Era descriptions in the Syrioc Timeline then you're vaguely aware of the Starshapers. Basically, instead of loosey-goosey "God" figures that just sort of exist, Syrioc's gods are former mortals that got way too powerful when magic became a thing. There's this whole lore around the Reign of Scales and the Starshaper Era that I hope you'll learn more about in-game. But for now, please bear with me as I'm sort of in the middle of their development. So far, the gods I've created are:

Lyra the Leprechaun- Goddess of Trickery, Luck, Wealth, Fey
The Undertakers- Gods of death. Two beings that handle the reincarnation cycle for spirits (held by fey and plant life) as well as passage to the afterlife for souls (held by non-fey and animals)
Malela- Dwarven goddess of battle, order, good.
Asine- God of chaos, metal
Shandelle Church- monotheistic worship, no specific starshaper recognized
Garl Glittergod- Patron saint of Gnomes and fabulousness
Kurtulmak- Kobold god, really hates Garl Glittergod.
Yucatiel- obscure evil witch/crone goddess
Kaldr Malelan Pantheon- Choose anyone from Norse Mythology
Katank Pantheon- Choose anyone from Ancient Egyptian Mythology
Thoth- Part of the Katank Pantheon, god of Knowledge

I'm a little behind on my worldbuilding in this department. So if none of these apply to your character, I'll allow you to create your own patron with a short explanation as to what they did during the starshaper era.

Gameplay

Congratulations! Now you know how much of a nerd I am! I'm just going to use this section to talk about the different resources I'll be using in this campaign. Here is a link to the homebrewery which has all the information you'll need if you want to create a Centaur, Firenewt, Gith, Hobgoblin, Kobold, Satyr, Slaad, Sprite, or Tlincalli character. If you want to make a Kuo-Toa (the modified fish dudes that are evil in standard lore but that's another thing I threw out the window hah) then you can go to my Kuo-Toa article here on WorldAnvil and the stat thing is at the bottom.

As for actual character sheets, message me and I'll add you to the roll20 campaign. For WorldAnvil, I've created a campaign that I can add you guys to if you make accounts. From there we can keep track of character articles for backstories if we so choose. If you'd also like to just use a character sheet on paper that's totally ok too (and honestly what I prefer to do when I'm playing) just take a picture of it and send it to me when you level up.

And that's it! Thank you for reading all the way through! This turned out way longer than I initially thought it would be but that's what happens when you don't write things down after a year of brainstorming. You can start making your characters as of right now! Go! The more you write for backstory/fears/motivations the more I'll include personal character plot into the story so don't forget that!