World Building

Aerota- City in the sky

Aerota is a city far detached from others. And not just because of its location, although that is odd in itself. Aerota was constructed on a large island in the middle of a long forgotten sea. The inhabitants of this land a unique afinity with the air, and worshipped it in all its forms. This devotion eventually led to the island being raised into the sky through application of magic and much praying to Aerota's patron deity. Aerota can move if the population consents to it and it coasts on the breeze if this occurs.

Aerota is constructed on a similar scale to Haven, with a population in the high thousands, if not tens of thousands. The buildings themselves are all incredibly tall as the Aerotan people have a deep love for heights. The streets are wide and clear, allowing great movement space and freedom. Aerota have also provided many strong mages for the Air section of the Elemntal Magi.

The Aerotan people are of mixed races, but all have similar traits due to years of magical experimentation and praying, all to become closer to their god.

Aerotan racial traits:
Natural wings- All Aerotan people have wings the right size for them. they are born with these. The have a fly speed of 60ft and manuverability dependent on their age, consult the GM when deciding your manuverability
Tall- All Aerotan people are taller than normal members of their race, by about a foot
Air affinity- All Aerotan people feel at ease with air based spells, they gain immunity to all air based spells and +3 to all rolls when using air based spells, +5 if they've been hit by an air based spell in that round
Freedom- Aerotan people hate feeling enclosed and will do many things to avoid being in that situation, those in enclosed areas where they cannot spread their wings take a -2 penalty to all rolls
Earth avoidance- Aerotan people dislike the earth, they will walk on it and rest on it, but they hate going underground and try to avoid it, those that are underground take a -3 penalty to all rolls, dwarves have a -2 penalty, this stacks with the penalty from being enclosed if applicable
One god- All Aerotan people worship the same god if they choose to be religious
Aerotans have a level adjustment of +4

Aerotul- God of the Aerotan
Domains: Storms, Wind, Freedom
Alingment: Neutral
Aerotul is the wind and all things associated with it. He is also the patron deity of Aerota and its inhabitants. He gifted them with natural flight a few decades after Aerota was raised into the sky and he protects them and the city when they most need it.

Monsters of the Vortex:
Those who manage to gain entry to the vortex might find out that they are not alone in there. Creatures native to the Vortex who prey on anyone they catch, but just because the vortex is their home they are not exclusively found there. Despite Immunity to the Vortex's shifting portals occasionally a creature is sent to a random place in a random plane

Void Wasps
Small Outsider
Hitdie: 3d8+3 (16)
Speed: Flight 30feet (good)
AC: 18 (+1size +4dex +3Natural)
Base Attack/Grapple: +3/+1
Attack: Claw +7 (1d3+1)
Full Attack: 10Claws +5 (1d3+1)
Space/Reach: 5ft./5ft.
Special Attacks: Sting
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60feet, Vortexborn
Saves: Fort+4 Ref:+7 Will+1
Abilities: Str:14 Dex:18 Con:12 Wis:6 Int:6 Cha:4
Feats: Multiattack, dodge
Enviroment: The Vortex
Organisation: Solitary, pair or swarm (4-40)
Challenge Rating: 3
Advancement: 4-6 Hd(medium)7-10 Hd (large)
Level Adjustment: -
Out of nowhere a blueish almost spherical shape with large insectoid wings apears. On closer inspection you can see a large eye in the body of the monster surrounded by ten diamond shaped claws. Underneath its body hangs a long sharp stinger, dripping with poison.

Sting:
If a Void Wasp hits with at least four of its claws it may make a sting attack, this is done against the target's flat footed AC and has a +5 to hit. If it hits the target takes 1d8 damage and must make a DC15 fortitude save or be impregnated with a Void Wasp spawn which will consume the target's organs and bust out of their body in 1d4 days unless they find out about the infection and suceed on a DC20heal check to remove the spawn.

In combat a void wasp will circle their opponents before diving into one of them, stabbing with claws into their face. As soon as the Void wasp has impregnated its first target it will fly back to a safe distance before targeting another one.


The Bladeshroom
Large Plant
10d8+40 (85)
Speed: 30feet Climb:30feet
AC: 25 (-1size +2dex +14natural)
Base Attack/Grapple: +7/+8
Attack: Melee Blade +11 (1d10+4 slashing) Ranged Blade +9 (1d10+4 piercing 30foot range)
Full Attack: 4 Melee Blades +9 (1d10+4)
Space/Reach: 10ft/10ft
Special Attacks: Bladestorm
Special Qualities: Plant Traits, Metal Body, Tremorsense 120feet, Blindsight 30feet.
Saves: +11 +5 +5
Abilities: Str: 18 Con:18 Dex:14 Int:10 Wis:14 Cha:10
Skills: Climb +17 Jump +17
Feats: Multiattack, Power attack, Cleave, Great Cleave
Enviroment: The Vortex
Organisation: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 9
Advancement: 11-14 hd (huge) 15-19 hd (gargantuan) 20+ (collosal)
Level Adjustment: -

A large toadstool bristling with blades and sheathed in metal all over stands before you, long tenticles pull it along the ground towards you.

Bladestorm
As a full round action a Bladeshroom can hit all targets with 1d4 of its ranged attacks at its full attack bonus if they hit they deal normal damage. This ability can only be used every 1d6 rounds as the blades regrow from the bladeshrooms body.

Metal body
A Bladeshroom's plant like body is covered in natural metal similar to adamantine, this gives it damage reduction 10/adamantine and several construct traits:
Immunity to all mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects).
Immunity to poison, sleep effects, paralysis, stunning, disease, death effects, and necromancy effects.
Not subject to critical hits, nonlethal damage, ability damage, ability drain, fatigue, exhaustion, or energy drain.

If confronted a Bladeshroom will attempt to get to the middle of a group of enemies, striking them with ranged blades to make an opening, when a Bladeshroom can hit the most enemies possible in 30feet it will unleash its blade storm and hack out at nearby enemies while the ranged blades regrow.

The Clockwork Nation

Rulers:The Triumvirate
The rule of the country is divided into three parts with the leaders discussing what is the best way to govern and a majority vote being needed to pass any new laws or major changes, the current members of the Triumvirate are:
Canton from House Olgarch- A Chaotic Good lover of equality and the people's freedoms
Nisus from the Order of Zacnias- A True Neutral man who is also the head of a sacred order to the God Zacnias
Traulas from House Dystas- Brought up in a Lawful Evil household House Dystas is known to also be the nations Assassin's guild patron.

The Clockwork Nation is famous for its advanced technology and its near perfect blending of clockwork technology (the secret of which is sacred to the nation's engineers) and the arcane arts, however the amount of clockwork contraptions that are build require a large amount of land for mining which has left to very little being used for farming and the country only just produces as much food as its population needs. The Nation values usable metal like iron, which is made into steel, and mithril a lot higher than softer metals like gold and silver and trade away as much as they can for large sums of usable metal which they turn towards equiping their army and making clockwork technology to make everyday life easier. They have a strong allience with the Fivefold Kobold Empire as their mines run deep with precious metal and the Kobolds are always eager for good trade and strong allies.

Military:
The Military of The Clockwork Nation is divided into two forces: The Standing Army and the Clockwork legion

The standing army consists of around five thousand living people all armed with repeater crossbows, light armour and a melee weapon of somekind, usually a sword or spear. The Repeater crossbow is one of the nations proudest inventions and as a result of that most familys have one in their household. The general of the standing army is a Caldin Dumont a middle aged man who has seen little real conflict but is well read on war and practices combat and tactics daily, he is currently in the pay of House Olgarch though it is rumoured that Dystas is attempting to sway him to helping their own ends.

The Clockwork Legion is a wonder of an army with very few living people inside it. It is divided into 5 seperate legions each of what consist of:
2000 Clockwork Soldiers
40 Battlesuit Veterans
250 Combat Engineers
10 Clockwork Linebreakers
1 Clockwork Titan
1 "Enhanced" Battle Captain
(Stat lines on these clockwork things coming soon)

Despite the impressive technology in their army the Clockwork Nation's armed forces are relativly small compared to that of other nations and as a result if a large force threatens their land they will hire mercenaries and request aid from their allies to stop their nations untimely destruction and the seisure of their precious technology.

History of The Clockwork Nation:
Before the marvel of clockwork technology the area the Nation consists of was two countries, what was then known as Elimates (now the Clockwork Nation) was still ruled by a triumvirate consisting of House Aldinarch, the Order of Zacnias and House Tashathen. They were in a state of perpetual war with their Neighbors, Kasserat who contineually wished to conquer Elimates. The treacherous House Tashathen struck a deal with the king of Kasserat and slew most of House Aldinarch but ignoring the Order as they had been bribed into apathy. House Aldinarch fled from Elimates and scattered to other countries whilst Tashathen opened the gates of their city to allow the armies of Kasserat to march in.
At this time House Olgarch and House Dystas were relatively unknown but they worked together to formulate a plan. Olgarch was connected with the academic life of the capital and when a young magical inventor discovered the power of his clockwork magic they immediatly hid him and went underground with the brightest engineers who started to construct clockmagic battlesuits and the first clockwork warriors.
As Olgarch did their part of the plan Dystas has gained links with the guild of assassins who were not happy with Kasserat occupation, the leaders of House Tashathen were slain and the Dystanian coup suceeded, they took power over the standing army and drove the Kasserat domination from the city. The army of Elimates had been greately reduced but it still marched forth to meet Kasserat on the field of battle. As the forces clashed the Olgarchian clockwork army appeared on the flank of the Kasserat force and drove into it with great ferocity, the Kasserat army broke and their leaders were slain.
The Olgarch leader and the Dystas leader were elected to the two open triumvirate positions to find another new member of the triumvirate in a state of frenzy. The new high priest of Zacnias had discovered that the man to previously hold his position had been corrupt so slew him for his god and took his place. All three members of the triumvirate then gathered the engineers and the army, created more clockwork constructs and began to march on the Kasserat capital, they were met with little resistance and the entire Kasserat kingdom was brought under their rule where, despite many attempted coups from the Kasserat underground which continues to be a menace to the Clockwork Nation to this day, they have stayed as unquestioned rulers.


Clockwork Soldier:
Medium Outsider
Hitdice: 2d10 (11)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 30ft
AC: 16 (+2Dex +4Natural) Touch 12 Flatfooted 14
BaseAttack/Grapple: +1/+2
Attack: Slam +3 melee (1d6+2) or Longsword melee +4 (1d8+2) or Light Crossbow Ranged +3 (1d8)
Full Attack: Longsword +4 (1d8+3) or Longsword +2 (1d8+2) and Slam -2 (1d6+2)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: None
Special Qualities: Construct Traits
Saves: Fort +0 Will+0 Ref+2
Abilities: Str: 14 Dex:14 Con:- Int:10 Wis:10 Cha: 10
Skills: -
Feats: Weapon Focus (longsword)
Challenge Rating: 1/2
Level Adjustment:-

Clockwork soldiers resemble metal humanoids, open gears and chains can be seen running over their body. They are capable of understanding orders and know enough about battle to change their style of combat to counter the enemy army on their own. Built into one arm is a long blade and a crossbow is mounted on the wrist of the other arm.

Laneril- The Jail State
Deep in the heart of the mountains there is a plateau of land surrounded by a ring of mountains. A huge adamantine gate, with its guardians constantly vigilant for any threats, is the only enterence into this country, all around the plateau are permenant walls of force and the entire perimeter is magically trapped and alarmed.
There is a reason for all this security, inside this barrier is a complex which houses the most dangerous lawbreakers in the world, from captured "freedom fighters" to mass murderers all great criminals are brought here to have a sentance worse than death itself. They are housed in an organised building complex, with grey corridors and tunnels leading from halls of antimagic cells and to the reform chambers. These reform chambers are where the jailers perform all maner of acts of pain from bleeding someone almost dry then healing them with magic and repeating to crucifying people for months at a time relying on the country's connection to the positive energy plane to keep them alive and in agony during it.
The people who live here are a few towns of family's of the jailers and engineers who keep the prison in good condition. Many Law incarnates come from Laneril and once they finish their training they are appointed the rank of Judge and are sent into the southern world to reclaim any prisoners who managed to escape capture during transit to Laneril and to apprehend those who the local authorities cannot catch.

Once any prisoner in Laneril gets to the age where their bodies cannot take the constant punishment they are taken to a different building and have Flesh to Stone cast upon them where they are held indefinitly in a hall of all the prisoners that have been here before.

Early in the country's life the mages opened a gate to the positive energy plane and the country still has a large amount of contamination from it. Creatures in Laneril will heal 1/5 of their max hp an hour.

Caelum Enterra, a large circular expanse of land populated by many, and is almost completely self sufficient. There is a huge capitol at its centre, Ourania, which has an inner ring, middle ring and outer ring. The inner ring holds the highly skilled artisans and the ruling council made of three members – a paladin, a cleric, and an incarnate. These three rule over the land, discussing everything in careful detail and always thinking about what is best for their people.
The middle ring holds the general populace of Ourania, most of which are the descendants of it's founders. They are more skilled than others found elsewhere, and are even lucky enough to have compulsory education.
The outer ring is the thinnest of all of them, but makes up for this with it's impressive walls. This is the place where the majority of Enterra's army is, as well as the main trading area for foreigners.

This pattern is repeated by the towns of Caelum Enterra – they expanded in an almost perfect circular fashion, circles being sacred to it's citizens, and so the towns closest to Ourania are the most developed, and those furthest away the least. They currently have six 'rings' circling Ourania, each one having six towns. This way, if any are attacked, those closest can easily send aid.

Caelum Enterra is known for the good nature of all of it's citizens, as well as having the greatest number of Paladins than elsewhere in the world. Naturally, when Nex Studium started to develop, an army was sent out to crush a seemingly weak foe. However, when the army was slaughtered, feeding Nex Studium's army, they were forced to find peace rather than launch a crusade – there were bigger plans of a seventh ring. Caelum Enterra has no wish to go to war with any others, and tries to remain diplomatically neutral on most things, although it disapproves of Hantate's methods.

Due to it's wide plains and the number of paladins in Caelum Enterra, a large portion of it's army is mounted. Each town has at least two units of mounted warriors led by a paladin, cleric and incarnate. The rest of the force is usually made of enough archers to cover the walls and anyone else who is trained in the ways of war. They care little about your fighting style or uniform, only that they do their job well, and in the name of good.

Palolo and Nearnet are the most commonly worshipped gods.

The City-state of Niwrad
Survival is easy for 364/5 days of the year in this near perfect city. The citizens are inteligent, strong, and (sometimes) caring. On the outside. Every one is a born survivor. This state is where "survival of the fittest" is brought into its own. Every year every citizen must take a test, both physical and mental. If they fail, they are demoted to slaves and castrated so they cant spread their filthy, inferior seed they also have their citizenship removed. Of course some would wonder why people remain here. The awnser is this. It is the single, happyest city in the world, governed by an elected assembely of their best minds, their (stricly defensive) army is full of the strongest soldiers, the quickest tactitians. In short, civic pride.

The great tower city of goren

Magic is powerfull everywhere in the world. No where more so than Goren. Living in a magocracy (magicruling) city causes the arcane mages to rule ofer all citizens. Home o multiple colleges of the mages of the arcane orders, brothers in the collage hold ruling bodys of this city. this comes at a cost. the people of the order have banished all "magic where the source is unknown". So divine magic is banned in this city. So the wizards, sorcerors and duskblades live in comfort away from those pesky clerics. Ay rebelluions are crushed by liberal applications of Dominate/ charm. Its hard to march on city hall when half the parade are compelled just to walk away. Due to the magical nature of the constructioon of this city, casting Dispel magic is an imprisonable offence here. and belive me, when they Imprison someone, they dont dick around. However there is a resistance, Archivists, masquerading as wizards form a (mainly peacefull) resistance and practice their craft.

2 cytiys for one post, how do ya like dat?

The Badlands. A wild and unruly place where only the strong or clever can survive for long. Ruled by several large warring clans, and largely desolate, it is a place few have shown any interest in. The Badlands is the largest single area in the known world, with these clans dotted about the area. However, due to early naval raids on Aerota before they had wings or the city was in the sky they found blueprints for small airships, crewed by 20-30 men who would also fight.

There are no less than fourteen clans in the Badlands, and they have warred against each other for as long as any can remember. However, by some strange chance, partially due to the patriarchal nature and shared values of it's societies, this war has become a form of lifeblood for it. When raiding an enemy town, unwed warriors will carry off women to take as their wives. Because the Badlands is such a huge expanse, inbreeding would be a serious concern for the clans, but this all but negates that. Combined with the fighting, each generation slowly becomes stronger and tougher, and more able in combat. However, due to a lack of materials, and warrior pride, most warriors will only wear the hides of beasts they have killed, perhaps with odd plates of metal 'stuck' on. This all adds up to a high mortality rate – counteracted by a high birth rate.

Only twice has the entire Badlands united – once under Calgar the Devious, hundreds of years ago. They marched straight into Cathennia and were only beaten back by the Moonbound Legion, formed initially to deal with this threat.
The second time was long before that, and was led by The Baron, as he was known. He marched them eastward, and crushed the large kingdom that was there, and this land became a part of the badlands, and now sustains five of the fourteen clans. This was the reason The Baron's crusade came to an end – infighting, supplemented by an unknown assassins dagger.

The military organisations of the clans are as varied as the clans themselves, though all of them try to outdo each other with bigger and better airships. They usually worship gods of fighting and survival, but not necessarily evil gods.

Not a place but a person. I call him Zeke.

Zeke is a hermit who has wandered all over the world several times over. Nobody knows how long he has lived for, not even himself. Nobody knows where he'll pop up next either for he is cursed to be Eternally Lost, never to find his way to where he's going, no matter how clear the directions.

One thing that is known however, is that whenever he is around then you should watch your pockets and your wellbeing. Being a hermit he learnt to get what he needs from anywhere, even if that means stealing. He is almost never caught at it as well. He never seems to pass up the chance for a fist fight either, particularly if it provides him with something he needs.

Another thing to watch around him is his words, they have an annoying tendency of being fact and coming true

Mausen: The Champion of Mortals
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Domains: Magic, Competition


The Elf Mausen was one of the most powerful mortals in existance in recent times. He was part of the competition with his compainions of Albas the human archivist and Benny the Gnome Wizard. His victory over the opposing party earn't him ascention to the divine realm.