Valier in the Second Age

Valier is the name of a planet where the events of this fantasy setting take place. Valier exists in the material plane, secluded from the influence of others following the events of the first Divine Conflict. Despite this however, it still features connections to other planes of existence.

Life in Valier

The majority of Valier’s population are made up of simple mortals, each from a variety of ancestries that have made the material plane their home. Extraplanar beings do live on Valier in noticeable quantities, but are an uncommon sight in most societies. Your average person is no adventurer, gifted mage or talented warrior, the effects and abilities of magic are vastly limited to prodigies or those with the resolve for long and continuous training. Your typical adventurer is likely someone with a knack for their craft, or gifted with untold power that allows them to travel, act and learn better than most others.

Normal people cannot be revived, but may be raised with the appropriate ritual, requiring powerful magic and force of will to return them to their body. Additionally, magical objects and artefacts are difficult for mortal bodies to be bound to, the average person can often attune to just a single item at a time. Those that have outgrown the limitations of a simple mortal are often far more receptive to most magics, and thus are often not so easily slain either.

A brief history

Since the arrival of deities on Valier following its primordial creation in the events known as The Founding, the planet has borne witness to three ages.

The Opening Age

Beginning in what many refer to as the Year of 0, the Opening Age comprises what many have forgotten, remembering only what was recorded in the tumultuous days of Valier’s infancy. Above all, the events of the First Divine Conflict are what echoes furthest from the days of the Opening Age, a devastating war between gods that became known as the Sundering of the Planes, as it resulted in countless planes of existence being created for each and every type of creature in order to avoid such a level of catastrophe from occurring again. Despite the difficult beginnings of the world however, it led to the freedom of mortals with the world to themselves to flourish in.

The First Age

What came after the resolution of the Divine Conflict is commonly known as the First Age, where mortalkind finally had its say in their lives and began writing histories of their own. The First Age encompasses the founding of the world’s first great cities, the arrival of Elves into the material plane as they fled tyranny, and humanities conquest over half a continent to unite mankind under the banner of their first noble house. The impact of the events of the First Age set in motion events that would take place in all ages to come, with both triumphs and failures echoing into the future for resolution.

The Second Age

Commonly known as the Modern Day, the Second Age is where current events take place in Valier as history is made at every waking moment. Since it began the Second Age has seen new lands form, and older ones collapse as people continue to further their understanding and foothold on the world. Relics of ages past and lands yet untouched since the Opening Age have given beginning to an age of wonder and discovery, as those with the talent or gift to uncover them begin to forge paths that will surely change the world forever.

Geography

Note: Plane-touched people such as Tiefling, Aasimar and Genasi are generally present in small numbers across most lands, unless mentioned specifically.

Continents

Edrenica, the Westerlands

Known as the origin land of the original kingdom of Humans, Dwarves and Elves, Edrenica is a temperate northern continent which contains the regions of Issenica, Sellanor and The Argent Reach.

Issenica: 55% Humans, 10% Halflings, 10% Dwarves, 10% Gnomes, 5% Elves, 10% other.

Sellanor: 65% Elves, 5% Satyr & Centaur, 5% Humans, 5% Dwarves, 20% other.

Argent Reach: 70% Dwarves, 15% Humans, 15% other.

Strass Divide, the Midlands

A continent spanning a width of the equator connecting Edrenica and Areuvia, the Strass Divide has earnt itself the name of Great Land Bridge. Thanks to its central location on Valier, its temperate climate has allowed for a rich and stable environment.

Being a region comprising numerous city states as opposed to a unified country or kingdom, the region presents a more diverse population thanks to its central location and varied cities and towns.

Covendwell: 50% Humans, 20% Triton & Sea Elves, 20% Halflings, 10% other.

Herelow: 50% Halflings, 20% Humans, 15% Goblinkin, 5% Minotaur, 10% other.

Stockdurn: 30% Dwarves, 20% Humans, 30% Gnomes, 10% Halflings, 10% other.

Areuvia, the Easterlands

Located to the east of Edrenica and the Strass Divide, Areuvia contains the cosmopolitan kingdom of Corum and its Principality of Alethvale, as well as the more volatile region of the Mithlyn Strand along the coast of the Yearning Sea.

Corum: 20% Genasi, 20% Minotaur, 5% Tabaxi, 15% Orcs, 10% Goblinkin, 30% other.

Mithlyn Strand: 10% Goliath, 15% Orcs, 30% Goblinkin, 15% Kobolds, 10% Deep Gnomes, 10% Duergar, 10% Drow

Saridan, the Dunes

East of Areuvia and to the west of Edrenica, Saridan is a largely arid continent featuring the world’s largest desert.

The Isles of Drimith

Directly south of Edrenica lies the Isles of Drimith, a large conglomeration of islands in a warm climate that harbours a rich history of ancient temples and ritual sites.

Vantebroc: 35% Humans, 30% Dwarves, 20% Elves, 5% Triton, 5% Sea Elves, 5% other.

Valendell, the Frozen North

Situated to the far north of Edrenica lies Valendell, a mountainous continent capped with flats of ice and snow. The viridian mountains that span its northern regions are the largest source of Mithril in the known world.

Old Valendell: 30% Goliath, 10% Humans, 10% Dragonborn, 10% Dwarves, 10% Drow, 10% Duergar, 20% other.

Artur Strait: 70% Goliath, 10% Humans, 10% Dwarves, 10% other.

Istragan

The polar desert of Istragan is a large continent found north of Saridan and to the north-east of Areuvia. The continent is largely unexplored, uninhabited and unreachable to the rest of the world.

Oceans

Canmis Expanse

A vast ocean south of Edrenica, the Strass Divide and Areuvia separating them from the isles of Drimith and many smaller archipelagos.

Realugana: 30% Sea Elves, 30% Triton, 20% Tortle, 5% other.

Hielen Ocean

The cold ocean north of Edrenica, Areuvia and Saridan separating them from the continents of Vallendell and Istragan.

Yearning Sea

The sea separating Edrenica from Areuvia to its east.

Isidilar: 10% Humans, 15% Dragonborn, 10% Genasi, 10% Goblinkin, 10% Goliath, 10% Orcs, 5% Lizardfolk, 10% Elves, 20% other.

Baslisle Tides

The ocean between Edrenica and Saridan.

Underdark

The Underdark is a vast subterranean region that exists below the surface of Valier. A dark and hostile place, the Underdark is almost a world unto itself, with civilizations, monsters, politics, economies, and threats that may interact only sporadically or indirectly with the surface world.

Entrances to the underdark are seldom found or used,

Equator & Tropics

North of Dragonsfear keep = colder climate.

South of Athenaeum = warmer climate.

Sun, Stars and Constellations

Valier rotates around a star at the proper distance to allow life on the planet's surface; this star is know as the Sun to the inhabitant of Valier.

Moreover, in the night sky there are numerous visible stars, much more distant, which due to their arrangement in the firmament form constellations with associated stories in different cultures of the world.

Languages

Many different languages are spoken across Valier. Common is the most widely spoken among humanoids, though most races also have their own language.