Welcome to the world of Zora! This campaign is staged on the star-touched world, a place where every soul has a deep connection with its own singular and personal star in the night sky. Where magic, strength and the very life force of a person comes from the relationship of the individual with their personal star. The game will be played in the ''Isle of Cats'', Aedelos. For almost a thousand years the isle remained an independent kingdom of tabaxi, leonids and other beastfolk with its own culture, history, technology and even style of magic. But, everything changed 99 years ago, The Aran Empire, founded on the great Altiplane had become a nacent superpower and its conquest of the isle was brutal and decisive. Today, as the high nobles prepare to celebrate the hundreth year anniversary of ''unification'' the people of Aedelos live in a state of tension. Many new technologies have industrialized and brought progress to the island, but the corrupt goverment and the discrimination between humanoid and beastfolk have drove a wedge between the people. Many Aedelians have called for justice, and one group is leading the underground in hopes for rebellion: Vox Alaria. --- Many religions are followed in this world, the most popular being ‘The Way of the Zodiac’. Which worships the twelve gods reflected by the constellations that are common knowledge to us in the tropical skies of Earth, but other small constellations shape the gods that are worshipped in the many distant lands that follow more southern or northern stars. The Aran Empire has very strict views on which races are considered fellow ''Children of the Stars''. Anyone not belonging to this classification is heavily discriminated against. The isle of Aedelos in particular still holds some belief in the great mountain that peaks the island. Rising higher than any peak in the Western Sea region: Draioch Tor. It is said by Aedelians to hold the soul of the great god of old that is now resting, and who gave the first beasts their souls. Many in the isle hold Draioch as a parallel worship along with whichever constellation they follow, and the Aran Empire has mostly decided to ignore this very heretical belief, for now. --- This next section explains how the different races are viewed and treated by the perspective of the Aran Empire. The Majority races: Human, Tiefling and Half-Elven They make a large percentage of the population of the country and all are widely accepted with very little racial tension or discrimination. They are considered the founding races of the Empire and are allowed to work in any field they are qualified to. Tabaxi and other beastfolk (Natives of Aedelos): This cat like beings are only found in the areas surrounding Aedelos. In the mainland of the empire they are viewed mostly as servants and slaves. Since they make up the majority of the population in the isle, however, their treatment is considerably better. With a sort double standard, sometimes being allowed to take mid level positions in the hierarchy, but always as a second class citizen of the empire. And sometimes as harshly as true undesirables. The Minorities The Felis* (homebrew race): Born out of the very infrequent breeding between humanoid and beastfolk. This eternaly bastard children are usualy treated by their Aran parent's as a mark of shame or dirty secret. The beastfolk of Aedelos tend to view them as either a secondary victim of Aran rapings or as another reminder of the many injustices brought by the Empire. Regardless neither are very happy to see them walking around. Dwarfs: Small communities can be found in the Empire, most of them come from the northern lands of Auriga. While there is some discrimination against them for being outsiders, they are usually respected for their craftsmanship and are considered by the people of Ara as fellow ‘Children of the stars’ Dragonborn: Very few Dragonborn immigrated from the northern isles after the great cold froze half their island, now most make a living by the edge of the great black desert in the Altiplane, while they are considered Otherkin they are respected for their strength and resilience and feared for their imposing stature and demeanor. Halfling: This race is quite a rare sight in the Empire and more often than not they are confused with children. Some even make themselves look like children to avoid problematic situations. Considered Otherkin by some, Children of the Stars by others. The largest population can be found in the Snake Isles where they coexist with Half-Orks. Gnomes: Extremely rare in the continent they tend to be found in isolated communities or as immigrants from the very far away lands of Chara. People of the Empire might not even know what a gnome is; regardless of that they are seen as Otherkin. Half-Orks: Are an extremely rare sight in the Empire. Greatly feared, most of the people of Ara only know them for the raiding and pirating they do in the southern seas. Mothers tell their children to behave or the Orks will take them to the Snake Isles to be eaten. What about full Orks and full Elves? Full Orks are very animalistic and while some are used by half-Orks as berkserkers, there is no real full Ork civilization other than very primitive nomadic groups. What happened to the Elves? Nobody knows. There are many ruins all over the region that tell of a great Elven civilization in the ancient past, with mysterious technology surpassing what the present scientist can even comprehend. Now the extinct Elven race only exist in the faded memories of the very few half-elven families that managed to trace, or imagine, their lineage to the almost mythical past. --- This website's purpose is to guide the players and record the changes that you make to the world and it's history. All pages are free to see and read as you wish, but not required to understand the basics of the world and its history. The articles bellow serve as short introductions focused on character creation for this world.