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Primordials and the Enchiridion

PART ONE: PRIMORDIALS

I've been touching up on my primordial lore as I feel it's lacking even tho it's a pretty major subject. The primordials are more conceptual, not really figures or characters. They have desires but for the Cycle; seeing past human and godly attachments, feelings, and will. So of course when it comes to creating a world you need major elements: light, dark, earth, water, fire, and air. The selection of such elements isn't too terrible to understand. They are all unaligned and forces of creation and destruction. I've contemplated naming them or giving them titles and honestly I've settled on both. Their names are hidden, obscured to history unless necessary to enforce SOMETHING (not quite sure what). I'm playing around with the idea of names holding power like old-school fae lore. For now, the names go as follows: Vhara (air), Scaldiphis(fire), Rosthos(water), Celes Dheghom(earth), Caligo'Sol(light) and Vor'levis(dark). Coming up with creative titles to cover up the fact that no creature should have these names is gonna be tricky now that I have named them...

PART TWO: THE ENCHIRIDION

I recently heard a Lich King voice line and I thought it was the single scariest thing an unaligned god of beasts could say, so naturally I have to create a substory for it. "Before there was Time, before there was anything, there was Nothing. And before there was Nothing: there were Monsters." I imagine this line being said to a poor paleontologist, a dark voice in his head as he looks at bones that don't make sense to him. 'Much too large to have been alive with competition and offspring' he thinks. Suffering visions of leviathans and the beasts who roamed the ground long long before his kind was ever a thought...so he starts writing it all down. Drawing detailed images of monsters and their descendants, finding bones and perhaps some dark intentions. The Enchiridion is created and holds the most intimate knowledge of the plane's creatures known to man. Whispered in the ear of a silly scientist...I've had the name Bharshad for a Ghaaliyhan god that I thought I'd create in a more evil alignment. Eventually, I grew out from the city of Ghaaliyah to a region... that was then attached to a continent and then I had multiple continents, and suddenly a regional 'bad apple' felt out of place. What stops a deity from simply leaving and doing harm elsewhere? Borders, a man-thought concept with no physical substance? Certainly not. At this point as well gods stopped becoming dual forces, I use gods to be forces of creation now, not destruction as that's a major point in the story of the Second Age. SO: I have an idea for a lord of beasts who travels around the world, a god unaligned with man or borders. A god who only holds interest in the primal and the Cycle but he loathes The Culling (a primordial decree of sorts made in the interest of the Cycle... I'll talk about that one day). We'll see where this goes lol

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Not Dead

Holy shit, it's been a year. Hi.

Due to unforeseen events, my cryptic ass has been MIA. But fear not my unreal viewers, there are still stories to tell. Let's start with a quick personal recap: I ran my D&D campaign (that was rough) -> Ended it prematurely due to dissatisfaction on my part (my players are chill about me pulling the plug) -> Worked so many doubles the whole of the holiday season last year. Like September into January. That was... rough lmao -> Rekindled a situationship and we are going a year and a half strong -> Got back into school and wouldn't you know it it's September again

ANYWAYS, all that is irrelevant information because we are so back baby. I wanna get back into creative writing again but I've also thought about other forms of content creation. I've always wanted to get into YouTube but the idea of creating videos has always been a daunting one. We will see. If it happens, it happens. If it doesn't, oh well. Anyyywhoo, imma try to hit yall wit another post tomorrow, a lil Friday the 13th speciallllll but until then I'll talk to you losers later

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Hello Again

I am once again, bobbing my head back into the light from the void that is my creative headspace. The point of my return, what is it?

Simple: new city, new ideas and most importantly, new plotline. Ah don't we love inconsistent storytelling. I get you hooked on Ghaaliyah just to switch and start talking about Kyhan and now I'm here to bore you with Levant.

Let's start with the fun bit: Levant. My shining city of magic and acedemia. My hogwarts meets dystopian factions love child... Tho there's really not much dystopian influence outside the seperation of magic schools being stupidly serious, like London city gangs lol. However to make up for that farce it's is actually a setting with extreme classism. All my major locations have a point to them. Ghaaliyah's is the struggle to maintain peace through deception. Skolgior is the dangers of excess and their nomadic counter part is the dangers of self proclaimed moral superiority; the region of Kyhan is on the nature of balance.

ANYWAYS BACK TO LEVANT, I'm having quite a bit of fun creating the schools (which as of current are based around D&D wizard subclasses because I'm using this world for my campaigns and therefore they need some structure. However this may very well change as I don't know how many stories I will actually tell in this world with others lol). For shits and giggles I decided to dedicate 2 colleges to the creators of D&D. The Evrim Gygax Institution of Illusion and Transmutation is named for Gary Gygax. Illusion and transmutation involve changing something's apperance and so I put the two together. Illusion was the first wizard subclass in E2 (correct me if I'm wrong), so it felt fitting. David Arneson has the school for conjurations and evocations, the other dual class academy: The Durnin Arneson School for Conjurations and Evocations. I imagine creating a ttrpg take quite a long creative process. I see both magic subclasses as different forms of bringing something into creation, it's a little corny I admit lol. Levant's major plotline is the issue of class, but their is a murder subplot(potentially serial killer idk I'm still brainstorming).

Alright I've rambled long enough, most of Levant is heavily under workshop but I can't tell anyone I know in person so into the void of the infinite internet where it may stay hidden for now. Cheers.

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Here's a messy map of the imaginary world in my head. The X star lookin points are cities/minor settlements of importance, most are unnamed lmao. Soros is the continent to the left and Dhommeas is the one on the right. Thelon is the northern most landmass and Themolin is the "madagascar" of Dhommeas. The southern continent is an unnamed polar zone.

This is the regional map, not the borders of the countries/city states. Kyhan is mostly desert, Ghaaliyah is a magical tropic zone, Nasso is a tropic zone that I'm thinking of spliting in two. Tolamar is the mainland of Themolin and Pelagros is the territory of islands that belong to Themolin. Eastmyr is the eastern half of Thelon the west not being named yet. Dhommeas is eating itself alive with civil wars so of all the lands these regions are the most incongruent with borders. They are all unnamed for now, especially since I've mostly focused on Soros.

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Harbingers and Harolds

So this is a plot point that is super far in the future for the Second Age but I thought why not chuck this into the abyss.

So I got a shit ton of gods and they are divided regionally. They made choices to stay within certain parts of the world around the cultures and peoples they connect with the most. However the gods are not the top of the food chain. The chain, in terms of power, goes roughly as follows, with some inbetweens:

Man->Demi Gods->Harolds->Gods->Harbingers->Primordials

There's a lot of gray area between this scaling tho, for example while Harolds are not as powerful as the Harbingers they would be ranked higher if the scaling was based on importance. Additionally not all demi gods are gifted the same; children of masculine gods tend to be of lesser power as they are carried in a mortal womb however if they are birthed by a feminine divine they tend to rank close to Harolds. So it's kinda luck of the draw on how powerful you turn out if you're a demi god.

Now I've talked a lot about gods when this is titled Harbingers and Harolds so whats the connection? The two are like step siblings. Stick with me here: The Primordials created this material plane and believed The Cycle deserved to be seen and lived by others, thus the creation of the Gods. The Gods had an empty sandbox to play in and naturally would create like their parents before them. The Ancient Beasts were made and their children bore more children. This spawned an era of wild chaos on the plane. Like parents who clean up after their children, the Primordials sent Harbingers to balance the scales. At this point in time, the Harbingers were sent to "control the population" of beasts however the price of this position is always death. Once their task is fullfiled a Harbinger will be called 'home,' this applies to Harolds when they are eventually created. If you will recall I said the Gods and Harbingers were something like step siblings, this is because of similar parentage but they are not the same. The Primordials firstborns were created for the purpose of experience however the purpose of H&Hs (yes, I'm abbreviating this is getting long) have always been to do the bidding of their masters. Harolds come into being in the Second Age and act as a sort of handler to the Harbingers and prophets. After the events of the First Age, the Primordials believed the swift hand of death was not always necessary and thus created voices of reason.

So quick recap of the most important bits: Harbingers are warriors were Harolds are "representatives." Gods land between the two in terms of raw power. They three where not created all at once nor equal, technically the birth order is gods, harbingers, and finally harolds. H&Hs "return to the Cycle" once their tasks are completed aka die.

Anyways this is stupidly far in the timeline of the Second Age, so much so that I don't really have it mapped out mentally buT, I find this a really cool chunk of power scaling and the timeline of the world.

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Kyhan, Ohmasi and Skolgoir

So for my d&d campaign rogue druids from the desert of Kyhan play a role in attempting to create dragon riders as WMDs for Dhomnik territory wars. This has the potential to begin larger scale wars and potentially the end of another age... Pretty cracked storyline. So who are these druids? lmao

The Kohmas Tribe are a nomadic people (made up of mostly humans, some elves or half bloods) that roam the desert region of Kyhan. They believe in a balance between Man and nature, which pisses off the people of Skolgoir. Skolgoir is best known as the City of The Hunt. Factions of different hunters are in a forever pissing contest for superiority of the hunt. For who has the most kills, the craziest suveniors, the largest kills and most importantly the rarest. They could careless for the balance or beauty of the wilds which is particularly rude considering they share the wilds with the druids lol.

Skolgoir and the Ohmasi have a long history that began with the massive war of the First Age. That truce has since been broken as the druids believe the hunter factions overkill and don't respect the beasts they slay. With constant fighting many have deserted their homes in the wilds thus leading many to migrate to Ghaaliyah and it's capital city. They blend in pretty well since Ghaaliyans are a very welcoming people however the language is difficult to learn and as such an accent is incredibly noticable. That's all I got on em for now so ta ra

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The Bleached Desert

Ghaaliyah isn't just the coastal city. To the northeast there's the bleached desert, a religious holy ground. The sand itself is magically potent, a guarded secret among the magicsmiths and alchemists. I don't really wanna call it the bleached desert but that's what it is in my head as the desert is white because of godly blood.

In the war of the first age there were casualties on all sides, the gods included. In the last naval attack of the capital city, Ra'Din was gravely wounded and retreated further inland leaving the Lord of Waves on his own. Bleeding out, he calls to Talaroog who is forced to make a decision on who to help. With hesitation, she goes to Ra'Din to heal his wounds which have seeped the ground with raw magic. Thus the bleaching of the land and the fall of Lord Halgis.

To whomever is reading, I'm aware Ra'Din, Talaroog, and Halgis are just random names to you right now but for basic understanding they are the regional gods.

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Ghaaliyian Soundtrack - Dulcimer

We love a good soundtrack and the region is heavily based on Arabic and Carribean cultures so I hope these snippets of music are a not so silent nod to them.

Right now, Evan Plays Dulcimer's cover of Around the Fire is currently what I have in mind for the opening track of my campaign. Introducing my players to the city not only with words to better create the mental image. The hammered dulcimer is a middle eastern string instrument that's been around since like 1000 AD lol

I also imagine this segment of Fabiola Mendez's preformance on WBUR CitySpace as a light background tune around a market center or port. Fabiola plays the puerto rican cuatro, another stringed instrument however this one is like a mandolin or uke. The modern version has 5 doubled strings, making a total of 10, but no one wanted to change the original name so it's still called a cuatro

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Apparently I've been on Tumblr for 4yrs lmao

Slay pft

Anyways I have more lore so incoming

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Ghaaliyah

I felt I should give context to what Ghaaliyah is.

Important stuff: it's an oligarchy run by a group of public figures who are elected in by sponsorship. Typically guildmasters and high business district officals are elected. The capital city of Ghaaliyah is a large trading port known internationally for it's neutrality and being the only state to have active trade with Thelon (northern isolated country that has been on lockdown since the first age). The ruling council is called the Ghaaliyan Assembly however has been nicknamed The Chamber after it's meeting place.

Fun stuff: the region has been blessed with calm waves and unyielding warmth aka ocean and winter storms do not happen. The weather is very caribbean island vibes year round cuz of a dying god's wish. Because of the warm temperature this region is home to most draconic species however with the breeding migrations of marine life they too migrate in the off season. The ports are massive but bring in not just good trade and supplies but tourist. The continent of Soros is relatively young however the apeal of year round warmth is intriguing enough to make the journey. The city is reminiscent to Gondor in the sense that it's built on something of a cliff with layers. At the top of the city is the political district, this area of the city is detailed in gold on buildings, statues, and other acessories.

I've got a good chunk of the culture fleshed out but this is already long as it so until my next writing kick.

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Some Gods of Ghaaliyah

I've been fixated on writing first age lore for a little bit and that includes the dieties. The top 3 I've been working on are Sala'Ban, Saheim, and Levtak. Here's some random info on them:

-Sala'Ban is the judgement god of the region. He's generally associated with traits like authority and obedience. The Lord Justice of the Scales sounds evil leaning (looking like a mix of pyramid head and a nazgul lol) but he really is more of a paladin of redemption. However should one not heed his warnings and walk a better path, my mans has no problem sending you straight to hell pfft.

-The Master of Arms Levtak was once a war god. In the first age he was known as a Shepard of Death for his brutality on the field. After the first age he kinda chills out and becomes a forge master with an interest in each generations best warriors.

-Saheim is the least worked on of the trio. The patron of the business district in Ghaaliyah is very elusive. I haven't figured out why exactly but he kinda dips from his godly position and vibes as a local fisherman. Definitely one of the more chill of the deities.

Anyways, thats all for tonight folks, I'll see you when I see you

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WeIcome to the Chaos

I’ve never used tumblr for longer then 5 minutes so I apologize in advance lmao. I’m just going to be posting out of context lore for my d&d world as this is the only place none of my players would be able to find it lol