Tera History and Geography (D&D)

[khyron1144]

This where I'll be posting some info on my homebrew D&D setting.

This is a world I've been working on since middle school, although I've rewritten rather large sections of it and moved countries around and so on.

SPOILER: Click to show

I gotta see how spoiler tags work on proboards before I go much further.

[sblock]I gotta see how spoiler tags work on proboards before I go much further.[/sblock]

SPOILER: Click to show

I gotta see how spoiler tags work on proboards before I go much further.

A few little notes:
1) Tera is the name of the main continent where everything should take place.

2) The Teran Empire was recently renamed from the Human Empire, so as I post old files, I am trying to look through and edit, but if I miss something let me know.

3) My basic world creation method that got me started: I took a sheet of paper with a grid, so I could see scale (The original maps were on graph paper, but I have come to realize that rectangular countries are rather unnatural.) and drew a map with countries making sure to create a racial homeland for all the races I wanted and then assigning a pantheon from the old 1e Deities & Demigods book to each race or culture. After that everrything was just adding on history as I thought of it and mapping dungeons and so on.


4) If you're curious, the pantheons I chose were:
Greek/ Roman for the Teran Empire; Egyptian for the Elves; Norse for the Dwarves, Jotuns, and Barbarian Humans; and a combination of the Chinese and Japanese pantheons for the Halflings; Goblinoids, Gnolls, and other Enemy Humanoids generally worship a combination of racial deities like Gruumsh and Arch-Devils, Demon Lords, and the Princes of Elemental Evil.


And just to make it clear: one reason I'm posting this is to put it before a public audience and recieve feedback and criticism.

[khyron1144]

Oh well, I can't figure spoilers out yet.

Here's a map of as much of the world as I care to map.




That is the current map. Here's the key:
A: Teran Empire
B: Freeland
C: Arcanum
D: Grand Khanate of the Halflings
E: Aelfheim
F: Known Goblinoid Lands
G: Beast Lands
H: Dwarven Mountains/ Svartaelfheim
I: Unknown/ Unexplored/ Undeveloped
J: Barbarian Humans (mostly)
K: Jotunheim
L: Fabled, Long- Sought Elven Homeland Across The Sea
M: Fabled, Long- Sought Human Homeland Across The Sea


By the way: a million bonus geek points to anyone who can tell me exactly why the number 124 appears at what was the bottom of the page until I tipped it sideways (I'm looking for a book title, not just, you copied it out of a book that it was page 124 of...)

[khyron1144]

Although I generally intend to put the country write ups before the history, I thought this creation story was important enough to put towards the beginning.



The Very Beginning of Tera

Everyone agrees that everything started with The One. Everyone also agrees that The One grew lonely.

The Halflings believe that The One went mad in His loneliness and we (including the plants and animals and rocks and waters and Gods and planar beings) are the fragments of his splintered mind trying to rejoin.

Almost everyone else believe The One Created The First Multitude (the Gods and Most Powerful Planar Beings). The First Multitude having more than one mind created Identities for themselves. Some favored Creation (Good) and others favored Destruction (Evil). Some favored hierarchies and codes of conduct and other forms of Order (Law) and others favored freedom regardless of the consequences (Chaos).

Naturally, these differing views led to conflict. The First Multitude took their dispute to The One for Him to settle.

The One favored the forces of Order and Creation and created a hierarchy with himself at the top, the lesser Creators and proponents of Order under Him and the forces of Freedom and Destruction further down and finally the Second Multitude (Demons, Slaad, Modrons, and other lesser Planar Beings) below them.

After the Free Ones and Destroyers had to swallow this indignity, The One announced further plans. He intended to create a Third Multitude of sentient beings who would in some ways being higher up than any except Himself. They would not have the raw power that one of the Second Multitude may command (although there are definitely plans to allow the greatest among them to climb those heights), but their belief and devotion would nourish The First Multitude and they would be free to do so however they wished causing some among The First to be greater and some to diminish.

For Lucifer the Light bringer, star of the Morning, this was the final straw. He organized a revolt to Destroy the One. Although, he saw himself as a force for Freedom most of his allies came from the Destroyers, such beings as Satan, Orcus, and Asmodeus.

They fought their war and lost. The Hell Planes (the Abyss, The Nine Hells, The Glooms of Hades, Gehenna, Acheron, etc.) were created to contain them and their allies among the second Multitude (Demons, Devils, Daemons, Hordeling, Diakka, etc.)

After this war the Third Multitdue (the mortal races of the Prime material Plane) was created anyway.

[khyron1144]

Arcanum
Arcanum is the wizardly country. It's bounded on all sides by The Teran Empire because it actually used to be part of the Empire. An Emperor of The Iron Dynasty granted Arcanum its independance, with implications of a strong alliance between the two.

Arcanum is home to a number of lich crypts, mad wizards's towers, and similar likely adventure sites. Of special note is the Temporal Palace or Spatial Palace, which may be two different places sharing the same space at different times. It disappears and reappears at regular intervals.

The political and geographic center of Arcanum is The Great University. The head of the University is head of state for Arcanum as a whole. (Under AD&D 2nd edition rules, every Wizard specialty class and kit has some sort of presence at the university, however minimal [even Rhabdomancers and Wu Jen from Dragon #229]). The current Archchancellor of the University is Frater Gauge, a Geometer of great renown. Never borrow money from him; he has a shelf full of souls forfeited; a half-dozen flesh golems made frome extracted pounds of flesh; and a small army of Half-Ogres armed with big hammers and a keen interest in knee-caps.

Arcanum exports wizards, sages, magical knowledge, information, philosophies, magical items, new technology, monsters (especially fusion-based aberrations along the lines of owl-bears), and gold plundered from lich crypts. The Wizards import men of arms, raw materials (especially substances used for spell components, like amber), and individuals foolish enough to venture into lich crypts (a.k.a adventurers).

Religion is not much stressed in Arcanum. Most wizards are eiter as agnostic as one can get in a world where clerical magic works, demons and celestials walk the land, and Ragnarock is impending; or else worship Hecate, Abraxas, Odin (imported from Barbarian lands), Thoth (an Elvish import), and/or Corellon Larethian (another Elvish import) regardless of alignment.

[khyron1144]

Dwarven Mountains is what the Teran Empire calls them. The barbarians call it Svartaelfheim and fear it. The dwarves, just call it home.

It is a land perpetually torn by war. Dwarves dwell here under the ground as do orcs, illithid, svartaelfs (drow), gnomes, and who knows what else. Naturally, this is quite a volatile situation.

From birth dwarves are taught defense of the homeland by force of arms; reverance for the Gods; the arts of underground survival; and respect for the forge. In this underground world there is no room for anyone to sit out the fight or not do an honest share of the ore-hauling and weapon-forging. Thus, the Gods have blessed dwarven women with the same muscularity and build as the dwarven men. If the enemy can not tell the females at a glance, the females are safer, so the the Gods have blessed dwarven females with the same beards as the men.

The dwarves revere the same Gods as the barbarian humans (Norse pantheon) with the addition of Moradin. Those who have dwelt too long in the Human Empire favor Hephaestus instead, seeing the humans's Forge-God as worthy as the Soul-Forger.

Dwarves import surface-grown grain and surface-raised livestock and export ore and gems as well as weapons known for quality.

[khyron1144]

Barbarian Lands
The barbarians dwell to the north of the Teran Empire and to the south of Jotunheim. They are divided into tribes, which are usually named after an animal. Some tribes include: the Bear Tribe, which is the one that Teran Empire General Sigismund Odinson is from; the Wolf Tribe, rivals of the Bear Tribe; the Tribe of the Ram, sheepherders who wield claymores (the swords, not the mines); The Boar Tribe, where most of the half-orcs and half-ogres wandering the civilized lands originally hail from; and more that I haven't come up with yet.

Since each tribe is like a little country, it's hard to make sweeping generalizations, but here are some things likely held in common among a large number of tribes.

Most barbarians revere the Norse pantheon. They place a major emphasis on living a warrior life. The greatest fear of a barbarian is not death itself but death of old age rather than on the field of valor. Right now, mercenary barbarians are a noticable fraction of the Teran Empire's military might and this worries some Empire citizens.

Most tribes do not develop a written language, but they do have a rich history passed down in sagas recited by skalds. Every warrior dreams of having his conquests and death remembered as on of his tribe's sagas.

Most tribes are almost perpetually at war with the Jotuns to the north, the surrounding tribes and the Teran Empire. It has long been a subject of much speculation that if the barbarians got their act together, they could be a major menace to either the Empire or the Jotuns or both.

Social equality of the sexes is actually much more advanced in barbarin lands than in the Empire, as a general rule. Females can become wrriors, own property, and lead tribes. Even when leadership of a tribe is by a male, hereditary leaderships are traced matrilineally. Everyone who is witness to the birth knows who somebody's mother was. Fatherhood is often a little more ambiguous, especially among the barbarians.

While barbarians do marry, their customs are rather unusual by Empire standards. Multiple simultaneous marriages are not uncommon, but they aren't of the a male may take as many wives as he can support variety that are known among the Empire nobles, rather, they could be expressed as: a person is married to another person as long as both of them say so and they can both marry as many other people as they wish. To put it another way: polygamy is normal to the barbarains, but it's different from the sexist version that has existed historically on our Earth. Besides, the weird marriage customs, fornication and adultery are not uncommon and rarely considerd that big a deal to most barbarians.

[It's worth noting that in terms of game mechanics not everyone from a tribe in the barbarian lands is of the barbarian character class and not everyone who belongs to the barbarian character class is from barbarian lands. The percentage of barbarians in a barbarian tribe are noticably higher, but only wizards are a rarity in barbarian lands.]

[khyron1144]

The Teran Empire: This is probably the most important land of Tera. Tera's greatest power militarily and economically. Home to the most legendary of adventurers.

The current Emperor, Stylus Steel, is considered by many to be a letdown to his family's legacy. Stylus is a scholar and practical man. He married early for political reasons and has produced no known offspring. His first official act as Emperor was the recognition of Freeland as a seperate country.

The greatest military hero of the modern Empire is General Sigismund Odinson of the Bear Tribe. He has been given the Axe of Might on semi-permanent loan by the Emperor. Since the axe functions perfectly for him, including Beguilment function, some theorize that Sigismund is a better candidate for Emperorship than Stylus, positing that he may be one of Gladius's bastards.

The major export of the Empire is adventurers. The Empire also has a lot of rich farmland producing much of the grain used in civilized lands. There are also rich forests producing both wood and animal pelts. Mining occurs in the hills and lesser mountains between the Empire and the Dwarven Mountains.

The capitol city of the Teran Empire is Tera Prima. Tera Prima is a very big city where lawlessness is legal (within certain limits and subject to taxation and permit fees); anyone or anything can be bought; bloodshed is a public sport (both in the Arena and at the Ace of Swords Tavern); halflings hang desperately onto their ethnic folkways (leading to Halflingtown a very foregin-feeling ethnic neighborhood); and dwarves lose theirs (leading to a very strong dwarven contingent in the Temple of Hephaestus and an almost unused Temple of Moradin).



Additional Notes: The Tarot deck is known in the Teran Empire. It has influenced culture in some interesting ways, particularly in Tera Prima where certain streets have Tarot-derived names, like Street of Swords, Street of Coins, Street of Cups, and Street of Staves. It also leads to names of certain inns and taverns, like the Ace of Swords.

Finishing school is Tera Prima slang for a house of ill-repute.

Through some combination of actual technological progress and magic as technology progress, life in the big city is as comfortable as it is today in the real world. That is to say, you might get your throat slit by unsavory characters, but food comes from a store, water arrives at your house, and some of the better sections of town have lighted streets at night. Those doing the farming to make food arrive at the stores still live the backward and miserable life of medieval peasants, as do those living in the wild places far from the bastions of civilization.

[khyron1144]

The King of Coins



DM's Boxed Text:
On the Street of Coins, in between the Wily Alchemist's Shoppe and Trader Robard's Domicile of Weaponry, is a tavern called the King of Coins. This would be the North Side of the street on the block between Primus and Secundus. Outside the door hangs a tavern sign with both a name and a depiction of the tarot card the tavern is named after. Having your pocket and no recent adventure hooks, you step inside.

The front room is the common room. There's a bar along the north wall and tables in the middle of the room. A couple of half-ogres are standing around, glaring at the room in general and any new arrivals, like you, in particular. You figure them to be splatters (bouncers that create a bigger mess). They both have tattoos of swords crossing coins on their shoulders.

At one of the tables is a group of men, playing cards. Guessing by the heaps of coinage and shouts of call and raise and whatnot, you figure it must be tarot poker.

Besides the splatters, the only obvious employees of the tavern are the barman behind the bar and the not-very-good-looking-and-obviously-world-weary-serving-matron (at her age, you hope she's not a maid), who is currently delivering a tray of ales to one of the tables.

Although there are a few obvious adventuring types and a few humble (i.e. poor) tradesmen, the clientelle is rather upscale, mostly fat merchants and, you suspect, a few Senators.

Near the bar, is a door marked Private. On the west wall there's another door.

There's enough tables that you can find a seat easily. There's no posted menu, but you can guess the type of fare likely to be offered.


Physical description:
The King of Coins appears to be a one-story building with approximate dimensions of fifteen feet tall by fifty feet wide (east to west dimension) by fifty feet long (north to south dimension). The common room, which is the one that guest coming in from the street will enter, is about thirty feet long by forty feet wide. The door marked Private leads to a very boring storage room where beer kegs are kept and so on. This room is about twenty feet long by forty feet wide. There's a door on its west wall, leading to a tiny, little ten foot by ten foot kitchen. The unmarked door leads to a nicely furnished office, ten feet wide by thirty feet long.

That's the stuff that's obvious to the naked eye. Anyone that carefully paces it out will notice the about ten by ten area of "missing" space. Of course, PCs should be kept too busy to carefully pace it out. The office has a secret door in the north wall that leads to the "missing room". (Search DC 25 to find the secret door where relevant). This room is used by Smashfiste as a secure treasure room for anything he's about to liquidate. If the solid oak desk is moved (this should take a minimum D&D Strenght score of 16 to accomplish), a trapdoor in the floor can be found, which leads to Smashfiste's complex of tunnels that provide alternate entrances and exits and include a few secret rooms where valuables too hot to be easily fenced are kept to age.

Background: Five years ago a new tavern sprung up on the Street of Coins, taking its cue from The Ace of Swords (Street of Swords), Queen of Wands (Street of Wands) and Page of Cups (Street of Cups), this place was named The King of Coins. Since the Street of Coins was a vastly different sort of neighborhood, the clientelle it cultivated was different. Richer for one thing.

It's a silent partnership between Morton Ostler and "Lucky" "Four-Fingers" Smashfiste. Ostler is a friendly face and competent tavern manager. Smashfiste is a batttle-scarred half-ogre leg-breaker with a lot of money and a desire to earn more without doing so much hard work. Smashfiste decided to finance a tavern as the front for the new gang he was heading. Ostler was simply lucky enough to find someone willing to finance "his" tavern.

Morton Ostler is the owner of record for the King of Coins, but it was built to Smashfiste's specifications and with his money. The builders were dwarfs fresh in from the mountains; their corpses buried under the tunnel's floor tiles is nasty secret #305 about The King of Coins. Smashfiste's Coin Street Irregulars meet in the hidden rooms to plot.

Smashfiste invented the Mailed Fist to the Head accidentally. He doesn't go in for mixed drinks much, but one night he was out of beer and found an intersting result when he mixed certain things together in the right doses. Only Ostler can make them reliably.

Knowledge Local DCs
5 There's a tavern on the Street of Coins called The King of Coins.
10 The King of Coins is not as good for brawling as The Ace of Swords.
10 The house specilaty drink is Mailed Fist to the Head.
15 The King of Coins is a good place to meet with the city's elite and make organized crime connections.
15 Identify a Senator among patrons in The King of Coins (if one is there in the first place, DM's discretion).
20 Identify the swords crossing coins tattoos as signs of affiliation with Coin Street Irregulars Gang.
20 Knowledge that there is a Coin Street Irregulars Gang.
25 They say a half-ogre named Smashfiste really runs the place and that Morton Ostler is just a front.

Knowledge Nobility and Royalty
5 The King of Coins is a popular hangout for rich merchants, Senators, and organized crime leaders.
10 Identify a Senator among patrons in The King of Coins (if one is there in the first place, DM's discretion).


Adventure hooks: 1) The daughter of a Senator has gone missing. She was last seen in the King of Coins tavern. One of the patrons knows she left with Questionable Milton, a minor local gang leader. He even has a guess as to which way the Questionable Milton Gang ran. He must be plied with drink first, though.

2) While walking down the Street of Swords, the PCs are approached by a young tough who complains about Smashfiste muscling in on everybody else's operation and how he'd pay anyone who did something about it and so on and so forth.

NPCs:
"Lucky" "Four-Fingers" Smashfiste is a battle-scarred half-ogre. He's missing one finger on his right hand and his sword has a custom grip to take that into account. He wears stylish clothes in bright colors, but always has his sword on one hip too. Like most half-ogres he's as ugly as sin. Unlike most half-ogres he's pretty sharp. He got his start as a leg-breaker for someone else's racket and he is not averse to violence. He is however quite willing to let threats, explicit or implied, do the work of actual violence whenever possible.

Morton Ostler is a plump, slightly red-faced human. He's slighlty bald. Although he makes money, he doesn't dress very flash. He could let others work the tavern entirely for him and just count the money, but he chooses to tend bar on most Frej Day and Saturn Day nights

[khyron1144]

Power Groups
Political Groups
Ruber Sinistra
The Emperor of the Human Empire's Red Left Hand. Government assassins and thugs. This is one possible "guild" for 1st-edition-type assassins. I would consider allowing Lawful Neutral assassins as well as the standard Evil assassins in this guild.
The existence of this group has long been denied oficially by the Emperor, but almost all have had a use for it at one time or another. They are treated by the common folk almost as boogey-men: "Watch out or the Ruber Sinistra will find you."

Axes of Flint/ Knives of Iron
Most subjects of the Human Empire treat a changeover in dynasty as just one of those things. Most Imperial usrupations are quiet and less bloody than one would expect; usually, the would-be Emperor just kills the current Emperor and then takes The Artifacts of Rulership, leaving the Imperial family almost entirely unharmed. This means there are legitimate Flint and Iron claimants to the throne still extent.
Organizations have arisen around these heirs roughly anologous to the Jacobite movement of Great Britain or the alleged Priori de Sion of France. Mostly they just amount to so much conspiratorial muttering and allegorical leaflets, nothing much of importance. One time, though, they succeeded beyond all their wildest hopes and killed a Steel Emperor (Cestus). Unfortunatley for them, they didn't get his son (Gladius II), who was much more dangerous to them than Cestus ever had been.



Criminal Organizations
The Yakuza
A traveller from a different world upon hearing of the Yakuza said: "What's a halfling gangster going to do to me? Kick me in the shins?"
His body was found in his room at the inn the next day, stabbed 1,000 times. His room was locked from the inside at the time and no one ever saw the halfling who must have heard his disparaging remark.
The Yakuza are real. The Yakuza's reach stretches everywhere. Fear them.
The Yakuza are a "guild" for halfling thieves and assassins.

The Coin Street Irregulars
On the Street of Coins in Tera Prima is a tavern named The King of Coins. It's a normal-looking tavern in between Trader Robard's Discount Emporium and The Wily Alchemist Shoppe. In the back room, Four-Fingers Lucky Lefty Smashfist, an aged half-ogre former kneebreaker, holds court.
Smashfist is uncommonly agile-minded for his race; many suspect a God Pool figures in his history somewhere. Every young thug, thief, knife-for-hire, and dealer in goods-of-questionable-origin of the neighborhood pays him tribute in cash or pays the much harsher price in blood later.
Smashfist and his "organization" is somewhere between tolerated and beloved by the locals. Most figure if it wasn't him it would be someone worse. His "protection" services do actually provide a measure of protection greater than the watch can. His quick, easy, and accessible loans, although often leading to trouble, almost as often prevent worse trouble.
Another thieve's/assassin's guild.

Sword Street Boys
Some young punks think Smashfist is too greedy and controlling. They have set up a rival organization based out of an abandoned warehouse on The Street of Swords.
Yet another thieve's/ assassin's guild, but this is the last one, really.




Religious Organizations
Children of the Star of the Morning
It befits, Lucifer, God of Freedom and Rebellion to not have an actual organized church. It's also fitting for those that do feel some affection for the Morning Star to ocasionally band together to cause bigger trouble.
This group has no hierarchy and no in charge because such rigidity would be anathema to the Star of the Morning. The Children have no membership roster and no initiation rite. You are a Child of the Morning's Star when you cause the powers that be some kind of trouble.
The group includes terrorists, bandits, pamphleteers, rabble-rousers, and anyone else who gives "the man" some headache.

The Persephone Cabal
Although a barbarian by birth, Gladius was a major supporter of the Temple of Hades. Some within the upper echelons of the Temple of Hades want him back. Resurrection magic is not unknown, but Gladius presents a special case because his remains have never been found and his actual name and birthplace is unknown. This make resurrection a bit trickier.
The Persephone Cabal is the group of priests trying to find a way to bring Gladius back. They named themselves after the wife of Hades, which they see as a metaphor for the Emperor's proper role.

[khyron1144]

Goblinoid Lands
The Goblinoid Lands are just that: lands in the posession of the savage and ugly humanoid races. During the day Hobgoblins, Norkers, and Ogres are the ones most commonly seen above-ground. At night the Goblins and Orcs come out too.

Goblinoids export nothing but violence and import whatever treasure and slaves they can steal.

The only land where the Shadow Pantheon is worshipped openly.


Note: when I choose to run 3rd edition rather than AD&D (1st or 2nd) and types become more important: Orcs gain the Goblinoid subtype. Bug Bears lose the Goblinoid sub-type, but gain a different sub-type, Ursine, which Owl Bears, Bears, and Werebears also have. Boggles gain the Goblinoid subtype. Ogres gain the Goblinoid sub-type and are also Jotuns.

[khyron1144]

Beast Lands
The Beast Lands are often thought of as a unit, even though they are really a group of small seperate countries. The main reason that causes others to lump them all together is that the inhabitants resemble humanoid versions of certain animals. Beastlands races PCs know of at the start of the campaign are: Aarakocra, Alaghi, Bug Bears, Gnolls, Flinds, Kobolds (in my world, their rat-like traits are played up), Lizard Men, and Saurials. With the exception of Gnolls and Flinds most of them are even open as PC races.

The Beast Lands continue further to the south than any currently know of and the following races may later be revealed: Rakasta, Lupin, Tortles, Minotaurs (stats will be as per the race from Dragon Lance, not the standard cursed humanoids from the Monstrous Manual), Cay Men, Gator Men, Pterra Men, Dracons, Giff, and Phanatons.

Religion varies widely. Gnolls and Flinds are monotheistic Yenoghu fanatics. Kobolds favor kurtulmak and other Shadow Pantheon deities. Alaghi and Aarakocra are primarily animists, tended to by Shamans.


Note: Anybody who sees the word Beast Lands and thinks of a Nuetral Good with Chaotic tendencies outer plane inhabited by Gaurdinals: in my world that plane is still called The Happy Hunting Grounds, likewise the Nine Hells are the Nine Hells and not the Nine Hells of Baator. Baatezu, Yugoloths, and Tanar'i are terms with no meaning in this world, especially yugoloths. Evil outer-planar beings include: Demons, Devils, Daemons, Diakka, Demodands, and Hordelings.

[khyron1144]

Aelfheim
That's what The Barbarians call it. The elves call it


Elves are long-lived, especially their Pharaohs. It is rumored that the royal family know the location of the God Pool of Time. Elves respect skill in magic and skill with the bow.

Elves have a special reverence for the dead. They have built giant stone tombs for some of their Pharoahs.

[khyron1144]

The Halfling Khanate
Halflings have a repressive feudal system not entirely unlike that of the Teran Empire. At the top is the Khan. He is head of state, chief executive, and the entire legislative body in one halfling person and commander in chief of the military. Below that is a warrior nobility called the samurai. Next down are the townsmen, a middle class of merchants and craftsmen. At the bottom are the serfs who raise crops. Serfs technically have no rights when dealing with the samurai or Khan, including the right to expect to be still living when the conversation ends.

The religion of the Halflings is animistic in nature. They believe that everything is alive and has a spirit within it. Spirits get fed by respect and worship and sacrifices. There are also Gods who are spirits that are worshipped by so many people that they are no longer associated with a specific place but are kind of everywhere a particular activity is performed or a particular thing is found.

The halflings also have some of the scariest criminals in known Tera. The Yakuza are said to be everywhere. They supposedly know everything and can go anywhere.

While it is called the Halfling Khanate, there are relatively large populations of humans and korobokuru under their dominion.

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More Ancient History
Approximately 100,000 years ago
The first great empire in the known regions of Tera was that of the dragons and their scaley kin.

Approximately 85,000 years ago
The dragons were too divided among themselves and complacent to hang onto their empire when the elves invaded from across the Eastern Sea.

Approximately 80,000 years ago
Humans were the next race to invade. The elves fought back hard, but had an additional problem when a faction of their own race turned to worshipping dark powers including Lolth the Spider Queen. Eventually the elves and humans came to an agreement to drive the newly christened Svartaelfs into the Dwarven Mountains.

The Good Aelfs and the humans agreed to split the known lands of Tera Nova.


Approximately 70,000 Years ago
A planar portal opened spilling the Horde of the Great Halfling Khan onto the broad fields claimed by The Teran Empire. Another war breaks out and then a peace is brokered allowing the Halflings to settle.

Approximately 60,000 Years Ago
The First Dark Age begins.
It starts with the Terror of Yeenoghu's Chosen as the arrival of the gnolls and flinds comes to be known.

Next comes the Northward march of the Goblinoid races from their distant southern home.

Next the Giants or Jotuns march south from their lands in the north.

Just when the situation seems to have hit bottom, the Hell Armies of Demons and Devils arrive from their home plane.

Finally the Gods war among themsleves again.

Some of these situations are resolved fairly quickly, but their coming so quickly upon each other (some possibly within the same decade, and all definitely in the same century) causes a certain amount of technological and magical progress to be lost. Not to mention the uncertainty of safety caused by having goblinoids and gnolls all in such close proximity to the civilized lands.

As things go downhill, The Ragnarock Prophecy is given.


Approximately 30,000 Years ago
The First Dark Age ends when the Gods bestow on the mortal races the Artifacts of Rulership. The basic racially-based divisions of territory are established and The First Alliance is created.

Flint I of the Humans receives The Axe of Might, The Crown of Emperors, and Throne of Rulership (humans are big on useless symbols, but nothing says rulership like a big, heavy battle axe and the will to use it).

Hurn Ironhands, a dwarf, receives The Hammer of Might, Helm of The Dwarf Kings, and Mail of the Great Warchief (dwarves are a practical people and believe that headgear should be functional. A dwarf king is as apt to sit on a bar stool as a throne, depending on what's available at the time.)

Jordan the Wheelright, a halfling, receives The Daisho of Greatness, The Helm of the Khans, and Thunderhooves, a magic war pony (45,000 years in Known Tera have done starnge things to the halfling race. Once they were a warrior Horde born to the saddle, now they are mostly farmers. They still have the best cavalry of any nation, however.)

Shining Leaves, an elf, receives The Bow and Quiver of Excellence, Cloak of the Forest Born, and The Tome of Great Magics (Elves prize archery and magical ability.)

27,000 Years Ago
In reaction to the peace and stability the humans and demihumans now have, the Shadow Pantheon creates its own alliance of mortal champions and servitors (with the exception of Yeenoghu and Lucifer; both get lumped in with the Shadow Pantheon because of their common history in The Fall, however both have different aims than the rest of the Shadow Gods; Yeenoghu wants to kill all the other Gods; Lucifer wants to try and lead the world away from power and influence, including the power and influence of the Gods).

Hasan the Slayer, a human assassin, receives Old Man's Blade and The Black Armor (perfect tools for an assassin).

Martin Shadowen, a human shadow mage, receives The Shadow Book and Staff of The Shadow Wizards (his subsequent actions in the northern lands may account for some of the superstitious dread barbarians have of wizardly magic).

Kruk, an exceptional hob-goblin, recieved the Short Sword of Might, The Armor of Glory, and The War Drums of the Great War Chief (Hobgoblins respect functionality as much as dwarves do and war drums are the only way to get the lesser goblinoids all marching in the same direction at once).

In secret, Yeenoghu delivers to his champion, an unnamed Flind, The Flind Bar of Might, The Cape of Yeenoghu's Chosen, and Bonechewer, a most exceptional Hyenadon (Because of Yeenoghu's madness, gnolls and flinds are fanatical montheists who hate all other sentient races).

Lucifer, Ssendam, and Ygorl secretly collaborate on The Cosmic Joke, a unique spell/ disease/ non-corporeal entity that can accomplish much with the right corporeal host, yet which is not under anyone's control, particularly not the entities that created it; They believe that to be part of the punchline.

25,00 Years Ago
The Age of the Great Artificers starts.
Martin the Conjurer creates the Ring of Servants.
Hermes Spacebender creates the Temporal Palace.
After he comes into possession of the Ring of Servants, The Golem Maker creates the staff of servants as a companion piece.

20,000 Years Ago
Second Dark Age Begins.
Shadowen the Lich-King's undead legions march on the Teran Empire.

17,000 Years Ago
Shadowen's armies are driven off by General Iron who has displaced the Flint Emperor and seized the artifacts of rulership.
The Shadow Book and Staff of the Shadow Wizards are lost but almost definitely not destroyed.
Second Dark Age Ends.

15,000 Years Ago
Arcanum Secession:
Athough it meant a loss of Empire lands and native magical talent, the Iron Emperor allowed it because the lands the wizards wanted included a number of mad wizard's keeps, lich lord's crypts and other udnesirable properties would now be Somebody Else's Problem

10,000 Years Ago
The Second Gnoll War

8,000 Years Ago
The Land of The Northern Barbarians is officially recognized as a political entity seperate form the Empire. The Iron Emperor recognizes it as a way to make the Jotuns Somebody Else's Problem.

7,000 Years Ago
Draconic Resurgance/ Third Dark Age.
Lasting after-effects include: Therion, Scaleytown, Scaley Common, and the bloodline that leads to Martin Dragonblood.

5,000 Years Ago
Third Dark Age ends.

3,000 Years Ago
Age of Rust.
Iron Emperors become ruthless, decadent, mad, or combinations thereof. Empire starts losing territory, beginning with unofficial annexation of certain northern villages.

800 Years Ago
Castle Granite is lost to goblinoids.

150 Years Ago
The Sorceress appears and creates a forest for herself in the southern portion of the Empire.

100 Years Ago
Manus Iron begins trying to halt rust with what might be called an Age of Polish. Campaigns extensively against Barbarians, Goblinoids, and Beastlanders.

Appendix: Dwarves: A Race That is Eternal
As far as the Dwarves are concerned they have always ruled the world and their empire has never failed because their world is The Dwarven Mountains. They have some challenges, yes; mainly fighting the Svartaelfs and thier own dark cousins and the illithid and others who contest their underground realms, but they are still where they were meant to be, in the mountains.


Apendix 2: So What about Gnomes?
Dwarves of both the normal and Duergar variety and Gnomes of regular and Svirfneblin types are probably the only races native to Known Tera. The gnomes have always just sort of been there. They haven't really had the urge to establish a kingdom of their own. They are perfectly content living under the rule of dwarves, humans, halflings, or elves.

[khyron1144]

Recent History
100 Years Ago
Manus Iron ascends to the throne of the Teran Empire.

Gladius Steel is born to a woman of the Wolf Tribe of Northern Barbarians. His father was a Teran Empire Legionnaire.


85 Years Ago
Gladius is captured in his first raid on the villages of the soft, civilized men of the Empire. Because of his fighting spirit, physical prowess, and unsuitability to honest labor as a slave, he is used as a slave gladiator. To everyone's surprise he wins his first battle.


84 Years Ago
Gladius is widely known and draws huge crowds after over twenty wins. He's still a slave though.


83 Years Ago
Gladius has earned his freedom. As a free citizen of the Empire he chooses Steel as his last name. He enlists in the legions.


82 Years Ago
Gladius is now a Corporal in the Legions.
Manus send the Legions south through the Beast Lands. This mission will be called Manus's Expedition in the official histories and Manus's Folly in popular accounts. Almost no territory is permanently annexed. The geographic and naturalistic lore gathered by this expedition is not taken as credible by the general public.

81 Years Ago
Goblinoid war bands see an oppurtunity and attack the Empire. Manus recalls Legions from the Beastlands.
Gladius, now a sergeant, distinguishes himself in the ensuing war.

78 Years Ago
Goblinoids largely driven back. Gladius Steel is promoted to Commander of Tera Prima City Watch. He uses his influence to bring more of his ex-Legionnaires into the City Watch, making sure Watch-house Captains are battle savvy and loyal to him.

75 Years Ago
Gladius, after significantly cleaning up the city (with some notable exceptions, like the Finishing Schools [soldiers need something to do with their pay], the Assassin's Guild [soldiers need reasons to stay alert], and the Ace of Swords [soldiers need someplace to stay in practice]), is moved from City Watch to Palace Guard.

74 Years Ago
Gladius kills Manus, takes the Artifacts of Rulership, and becomes Emperor.

72 Years Ago
Gladius marries an Empire-born noblewoman to legitimize his rule. He also acquires a harem of Barbarian concubines.

70 Years Ago
Cestus is born to Empress Astra Saphire-Steel.
Gnolls begin to attack southern portions of the Empire. Gladius immediately mobilizes the Legions. Third Gnool War begins.

69 Years Ago
Gnolls, lacking the raw numbers of the goblinoids, look like they're losing, right form the start. A mysterious leader emerges among the flinds who starts turning the army into a real disciplined fighting force.

68 Years Ago
Gladius, seeing that this could be a lengthy war of atrition, attends to the war personally making full use of the Artifacts of Rulership. The tide begins to turn.

67 Years Ago
Eventually, it comes down to a direct fight between Gladius and Yeenonoru, the flind leader. Gladius wins through raw physical might and superior knowledge because both sets of Artifacts cancel each other out. The Flind/ Gnoll artifacts disappear in the wake of the battle.

54 Years Ago
Cestus enlists in the Imperial Legions anonymously, without his father's knowledge. He leaves behind a note saying not to worry or investigate his disappearance.

53 Years Ago
Cestus is a corporal, while dealing with goblinoid border raids.
Gladius orders the establishment of two fortified border cities to strengthen Imperial hold on south lands.
Incentives to settle include free man status for serfs, local voting rights for free men, and similar improvements in status.

52 Years Ago
Cestus, still under a false identity, becomes a border sheriff in the recently established town of Firebird.

51 Years Ago
Cestus marries Laurelai, an enchantress of common birth from Arcanum, in secret.

50 Years Ago
Cestus grows tired of living incognito and sends word back to the Emperor Gladius of where he is and what he has done. Gladius is proud and also approves of Laurelai. He creates a new County of Jade for Laurelai to be Countess of, thus elevating her as befits a Crown Prince Imperial's wife.

48 Years Ago
Laurelai Jade-Steel gives birth to Gladius II. Gladius I believes Cestus is ready and bestows upon him the Artifacts of Rulership. Gladius I, feeling that 52 years is too old for a man born of barbarian stock and fearing a quiet death of age or disease, buckles on his old gladiatorial gladius and heads north to rally his old tribe for a raid on the Jotuns. Gladius I dies gloriously in battle. Cestus ascends to the throne.

47 Years Ago
Cestus meets Martin Dragon-Blood, a powerful, mostly human wizard (Martin claims a faint trace of draconic heritage in his family, infused during the Draconic Resurgance) and appoints him Magus-General of the Empire. Teran Empire appears to be experiencing another Golden Age.

20 Years Ago
Empress Laurelai Jade-Steel gives birth to Stylus Steel(she married young, so is only 45 chronologically and may have used Pool of Time for an even younger age biologically). Stylus, being a second son is mostly left to his mother and grandmother to raise.

19 Years Ago
Knives of Iron succeed in assassination plot on Emperor Cestus Steel. Gladius II ascends to the throne. Gladius II orders the Ruber Sinistra to start killing "suspected traitors".

18 Years Ago
Riots and uprisings start in northwestern portion of the Empire. Gladius II orders random uninvolved village in aobut the right region put to the torch. Stylus is remarkably articulate and wise for a two-year-old.

17 Years Ago
The loss of tax revenues from the region compels Gladius II to mobilize legions on northwest trouble spots. Barbarians reinforce rebellious Empire peasants for unknown reasons. War begins in earnest. Stylus knows his letters, colors, numbers, and shapes and is doing it in the big boy garderobe.

16 Years Ago
Halflings join the Empire's rebellion on both sides. Stylus can read and write short words.

15 Years Ago
Beast Landers get involved in the Great Revolt, mostly on the peasant side. In order to ensure his safety, Stylus is sent away for schooling in Arcanum.

14 Years Ago- 10 Years Ago
War drags on. All peoples of known Tera are at least minimally involved on one or both sides. Stylus continues schooling, shies away from magic but very sharp in philosophy, history, languages, and natural philosophy.

9 Years Ago
Gladius II finally enters the fray personally. Tide begins to turn.

8 Years Ago
A group of mercenary adventurers known as The Company of Chaos join the rebels. The company secretly has artifacts that put them on a par with the Emperor.

7 Years Ago
While spell-dueling with Dwzip of The Company of Chaos, Magus-General Martin Dragon-Blood is apparently transformed into a shower of flower petals. A lucky peasant arrow fells Gladius II (the lucky one was the sixteenth; he looked like a pin cushion at the end). Laurelai Jade-Steel takes the throne as regent. She pulls Imperial legions out of Rebellion and calls for a temporary cessation of hostilities.

5 Years Ago
Stylus is the youngest graduate ever of The Great University's non-magical studies program. He returns to Tera Prima where his betrothal to Lady Mildred of House Emerald is announced.

4 Years Ago
Stylus marries mildred and assumes the throne. Laurelai's regency ends. Stylus officially recognizes Freeland as an independant country where citizens are encouraged to define own government.

Now
Ragnarock prophecy begins to be fulfilled.