Brass Realms Setting Primer

Welcome to The Brass Realms! My Personal setting for TTRPG's and fantasy storytelling.
The Setting is heavily inspired by Elden Ring, Dresden files, Cultist Simulator and others.
It is designed to be a medieval-fantasy/horror setting intended to be used for various TTRPG systems, so naturally you will see a lot of parralels.

Take care, browsing beyond this article may offer severe spoilers for players expecting to play in the Brass Realms. You have been warned.

The setting of the Brass Realms is a world of magic and monsters with Humans struggling to get by in a universe that does not revolve around them. Death and destruction lurks around every corner and Humanity must remain vigilant and steadfast against theats from without and within if they wish to survive.

The main place where most stories set in the brass realms happen is the world of Haven, though it can go beyond Haven as well, into alien Realms and the afterlife.
Haven is an ice world that taught Humanity perseverance in the face of adversity. In order to survive its harsh winters, Society has adapted in many ways. Nobles, Warriors, Priests and Mages all have their place in this world and their own challenges.

Magic

Full Articles: Magic in the Brass Realms.

Magic in the Brass realms is a fundamental force of nature stemming from the Spirit World.
Magic is powerful but always comes with a cost. There are some like Cambions or Nephilim that are born with it, but most must pay a heavy price for it. Be it an expensive education at a sorcerer's college, service to a deity or making a pact with a Demon.

Public Distrust of Magic & Forbidden Magic

How magic is viewed differs highly from location to location. The mageocratic Ravil Empire elevates mages above the common folk, while in large swathes of Pucraele mages are actively shunned. Special kinds of magic users like Witches or necromancers are shunned near everywhere.

Priests are a lot more accepted by the common folk, mainly because they serve the divines, swear oaths of honor and poverty and are well respected for their healing powers.
Stories like what happened to Tarmsworth are cause for significant distrust among large segments of the populace against sorcerers and other forms of magic. Every other form of magic is kept out of daily life as much as possible and often highly regulated by the powers that be.

Spirits

The settings of the brass realms is also very big on the concept of Spirits; Ethereal and alien creatures from beyond the mortal veil that act upon their instincts and can both harm or help humans.

The people of Haven have festivals dedicated to appeasing the spirits of the world and the world beyond, they wear charms to protect themselves, they draw wards on their homes, they have priests bless any home upon construction and most importantly, the measures they use are effective.
This is no mere superstition, and even if it was, belief has a power of its own.

Spirits are immortal, hard to fully understand and should not be underestimated. Make sure to appease the spirits, because at the end of the day everybody has to meet the Reaper.

Karma & The Afterlife

Karma in the brass realms is very real, and there is entities beyond the mortal veil that are very interested in enforcing it. As such, don't go around grave-robbing, or killing innocents, no matter how much you think that you'll get away with it or that nobody will ever know, because believe me, somebody or something will.

Karma in the brass realms will be enforced eventually, if only after death, with the two extreme sides of the proverbial coin being of course Heaven and Hell, which are real places that wizards and mediums can look into using their magics.
Of course the gods also take a keen interest in morality and mortal lives, leading to a wide variety of doctrines and codes for people to live by.

Demihumans

Nephilim, Cambions, Half-Ogres and many more are what the people of Haven call 'Demi-Humans'. Intelligent beings that are human-like enough to fit into society.
These people are often not seen overly kindly, but neither are they persecuted. People might hold prejudices against them or not offer them the same hospitality as they might those of their own kin, but they will mostly keep any thoughts they have to themselves as the world of Haven is a harsh enough place already without picking unnecessary fights.
Humans have to stick together and Demi-Humans are close enough to count.

Monsters

Monsters have always been a part of Haven as far as people have been able to remember, from common beasts like wolves, over exotic creatures like Ghost spiders all the way to the magnificent Dragons. However, since the age of Old Sun monsters have greatly increased and many new species previously unknown have appeared.

The People of Haven fear monsters. An angry mob of people is more than capable of taking care of most monsters, but the people of Haven are rarely willing to risk their lives in this way unless cornered.
If a creature starts preying on humans or encroaching on a human settlement, the people of haven often pool their funds to hire monster-hunters to remove the problem with minimal fuss. These monster hunters are often either inexperienced rookies (most of which die on their first job, and thus don't need to get paid) or very expensive veterans.

Gods & Religion

The People of Haven often worship one of a variety of gods, or at least pay lip-service to them. Nobody insults the local deities and the religious orders based on their worship, for fear of reprisal from both mortal and divine.

When in trouble, the people of Haven often resort to praying in addition to taking matters into their own hands, which is surprisingly effective as it often coincides with a holy champion of their god arriving, or some subtle effect helping them out of their situation.

Recurring Themes

• Man versus monster (Theres a deliberate distinction between humans and non-humans. The two categories often come into conflict. Things that arent humans are deliberately inhuman.)
• The most worthwhile task is the hardest (nothing important was ever obtained for free)
• With great power come even greater restrictions (power and responsibility. You rule over the throne, but the throne also rules over you. There is no power without cost and if you want great freedom you might not want to seek power.)
• What goes around comes around (Karma is a real and tangible force here)
• Fear the unknown (Knowledge is key, what you dont understand might just be able to kill you if you are not careful.)
• Cycles (Things repeat, at least in broad strokes. Rises followed by falls, development followed by stagnation followed by decay, follwed by development again.)