Toll

Overview: A not so Fantastical Setting.

A high priest seeks guidance at the altar of an ancient temple. As he performs the prayer and touches the small figure the stones around the altar light up with magic and a magical hum fills the air. In the air above the altar appears the form of his god ready to communicate with the priest. What the priest thinks is the magic of his deity is really the booting process of an ancient technology. What stands above him is the holographic projection of an artificial intelligence tasked with preserving the world of Toll.


Toll is a seemingly fantasy setting, but it is actually the remnants of a highly advanced civilization using adept and futuristic technology. Built on the inside of a Dyson sphere surrounding a neutron star, the artificial planet of Toll has slipped into the outmost reaches of a wormhole. This has isolated them from the rest of the universe and lead to a decline in knowledge for the inhabitants. The secrets of the ancient technology are lost to time and the inhabitants live in varying levels of technological era centered on the medieval ages. What the inhabitants see as magic and deities are actually the systems and programs of the sphere maintaining the integrity of the world. The Artificial Intelligence programs that run Toll are now venerated as gods and there is a small percentage of the populations of Toll that can form a rudimentary neural link with the systems that run the world who by doing so perform what is viewed as magic. Relics from a more technological time that have survived are venerated as magical artifacts and weaponry.


The inhabitants of Toll who understood the technology of the world are long gone, relics of a forgotten era. The current inhabitants live in varying levels of technological progress but none of them are close to understanding the truth of the world around them. What few things have survived the hundred years since the collapse of the ancient society are misunderstood at best and incomprehensible at worst. The knowledge of the ancient language is all but lost and a few key phrases are studied and passed down by wizards and magicians to unlock powers and secrets. The AIs that run the system are now obsessed with being worshiped and have done everything within their programming capability to keep the world in this suspended dark age.


As a DM when running Toll, please run the world as a high fantasy setting, but sprinkle in small subtle clues to the true origins. Remember that the players will be a part of the inhabitants that believe in magic and gods and the way the story unfolds should reflect these beliefs. Some clues could be in the etherealness of the gods as they present in holographic form to the people, or in the way that relics and magical artifacts will light up small jewel by small jewel as the machine housed inside boots up and performs its' function. Wizards may have to use a command word before or after each spell they cast, similar to a command line interface in a computer. Be creative, but remember that the plot and overarching story does not in any way have to include any illusion towards the true nature of the world.

Inhabitants: Descendants of a Melting Pot Society

A slender elf wearing rich robes walks carelessly down the streets outside their large villa, while on the outskirts of the same city a ragged and toughened elf eyes their next mark. In Toll most species have reintegrated into society to the point that you can find members of every walk of life among them.

Toll was originally built as a hub for diverse species and cultures. As such with the gradual collapse of society came a partial segregation of different clans and in some case species. Within the world of Toll all the species in the D&D universe are represented though some may be limited to geographical or social circles. Such as the Triton being limited to two factions, those who hail from beneath Grentia mingling with the surface dwellers, and the less integrated Deep Sea Council. Another example is the Rock Gnomes being divided to a laboring class that works in the mines and a upper tier caste of politicians and inventors both of which hold deep contempt for the other class.
While every player race is a viable option for Toll there are a few special cases that have unique rules attached. Goblinoid and orc character races are able to integrate into different societies, but not all. La'Dronia tolerates goblin kind, but because of the way they have been shunned by most of society the majority of goblinoids will be found within the organized crime syndicates of Grentia and The Old Capital. Ideilor detests the monstrous races and is one of the few countries that have outright made it illegal to be undead, goblinoid, orcish, or other similar monstrous races. As such in the majority of the continent of Aeseruin these people tend to stick together in tribes and live on the outskirts of civilization. This tendency carries over into the small groups of them that live in cities and you will find the majority of them in culturally homogenous districts.

Gods, the Pantheon, and Religion

A prayer is spoken en mass by a crowd of devotees. As the last words of the chant escape hundreds of lips a shining image of a woman steps in front of the crowd. Their fait has been confirmed and their goddess has appeared before their very eyes. Though what the crowd does not know is that the ethereal form their goddess takes is merely a hologram presented by an AI that has masqueraded as their deity for over a thousand years.

Gods to the people of Toll are very real, they are seen walking and speaking with their followers and they perform feats of magic the people know as miracles. They are often noted for their transluscent and brilliant appearance and can take multiple forms, though they prefer a humanoid form that they hold consistent and the people recognize.
The legend of the creation of Toll goes as follows; the first deity, a being referred to as the Founder but known to only their most devout followers as Nex. The founder was the first being, and they went out in search of other beings. They found six others like them, six other gods and goddesses who the Founder then enlisted to create the world of Toll and populate it with all manner of life. Skapjír created the structure to the land, he carved out valleys and raised up mountains providing a place in the stars for the people to live. Farrdír, created the oceans, the rivers, and the seas, providing lifeblood to the land, and she is still guiding people in their travels across the world. Styr created and maintained the skies, moving storms and making sure the weather was never stagnant in one place so that people could settle all over the world of Toll. Then Fjuur and Hethna created the cycles, birth and death, growth, and harvest. They worked in union and while many people have a poor understanding of Hethna, without his wife Fjuur would grow sorrowful to the point that rebirth would cease in the world. And finally Jændí stored the knowledge of the gods and the people of Toll and he recounts stories and instruction for whoever seeks it out.
The gods, unbeknownst to the inhabitants of Toll, were once mortals and they were the architects and designers of the sphere that is now their world. After designing the system and creating Toll they uploaded their consciousness into the essential programs that were to maintain the world indefinitely. This made them Mind-Melded and over thousands of years their consciousnesses were corrupted. Nex came from a species that could already live for long periods of time called a Star-Born, so Nex's mind was not corrupted the same as the others. After the fall of the ancient civilization Nex pleaded with the others to return to their position as currators and let the people of Toll know that they were not gods. The others worked together to shut down all but the most essencial of Nex's functions effectively taking them out of the equation for the foreseeable future.

The Pantheon is simple and universal across Toll. It includes Nex, more commonly just called the Founder, Jændí the World Mind, Fjuur the Life Breath, Hethna the Night's Soul, Skapjír the World Forger Farrdír the World Voyager, and Styr the Sky Setter.

While the gods in Toll are very limited in number and influence, the religions are often the opposite. Some regions will venerate one or two gods above the rest of the pantheon, and still others will worship them as a single being in will and purpose. Organized religion is more of a regional, social, or political entity than a collection of priests that devote to a single deity. Clerics and Paladins still devote to and follow the tenants of individual gods, but two clerics of Styr may find themselves participating in two very different or even opposed churches if they come from different areas within the world.
Two large churches within Aeseruin are the Order of Light within Ideilor, and the Church of the Star that spans through several countries to the west and has gained influence in La'Dronia. It is important to note that devotees of any church in nearby countries are going to be found in most cities. The Order of Light follows Fjuur primarily, and secondarily Jændí and Hethna, they are collectively called the Devine Court. The Church of the Star worships the Founder as Nexa the star, and venerates the other gods as simply extensions of Nexa's will.
Other cultures may worship the forces of nature themselves, or even their ancestors. This is especially prevalent in Orc, Goblin, and Nomadic tribes.

Timekeeping: Calendars, Clocks, and Festivals.

The ground shakes briefly, but it is felt around the world. Several weeks pass and the tremors occur again. Many people think the end of the world is upon them, and they would have been right. At that time though some of the bravest adventurers in Toll took to investigating the reason the very land was stirring. Together they found a monolithic structure that stabilized the world's fragile place around Nexa . The adventurers didn't know this though and with the help of the Gods they were able to restore balance to what they thought were important temples to the gods.

Most Tollan governments keep track of the calendar year based off the cataclysms that occurred when the six pillars (gravity stabilizers that keep the neutron star centered within the Dyson sphere) weekend and threw off the ecosystem, until several brave adventure parties were able to reactivate the pillars and put the world back in stability once again. This is known as the Shaking of the Pillars and the calendar years are now written as ASP and BSP for After the Shaking of the Pillars and Before the Shaking of the Pillars respectively.

Current written history (with the exception of a few relics of ancient text) extends back as far as 1500 BSP with the oldest readable records emerging a few centuries after the fall of ancient society. Some people have dedicated their entire lives to studying the records from before 1000 BSP with little to go off of, but the records that emerged circa 950 BSP and forward are well documented and the period of 800 - 650 BSP is considered a classical age in arcana, philosophy, mathematics, and religion. Despite this little progress has been made to these fields between the periods of 580 BSP - 140 ASP and only recently have the inhabitants of Toll been able to progress society in some places.

The calendars of the different societies of Toll are strangely similar, following a 12 month pattern each with four weeks and four days. The yearly cycle lasts 384 days and the months are centered around seasonal changes marked by the phases of the two moons. There are a few exceptions to this but they are found in the most primitive and non conforming of societies, usually those who refuse to listen to the gods and who live in areas where the seasonal differences aren't so regular.