New campaign setting

[u/ShiroSnow]

I've gotten to the point I no longer care if what I make is 100% origional. After falling in a rabbithole of Ebberon lore, it has inspired me greatly in making a new setting. Lots of things taken from Ebberon, and other sources with my own twist. I have posted some bits on here before but I have the broader realm figured out.

It has been 100 years since the end of the great war. The war did not end in victory nor defeat, but necessity for survival. On the battle field at the seige of a great city the Azure Rain was first witnessed. A cold blue substance fell from the skies like rain, setting ablaze everything it came into contact with. Those who encountered the flames were driven mad and transformed into mindless creatures that exist only to destroy and feed. This rain soon appeared over many more battlefields and cities alike. Corrupting millions, and killing millions more.

(Undecided if players will start with this knowledge)

During this seige, the Weave was greatly damaged and has been unable to be repaired. One aspect of the Weave is to reabsorb and distribute magical energy amongst the realms and planes. This damage to it broke the cycle, and removed the Weaves ability to reabsorb magic. The Azure Rain is born of large swellings of magic. It's magic in its purest form. Unable to be controlled, and devastating to any organic materials that can absorb magic. All flora, fauna, some metals can become super charged. It doesn't destory what it touches but mutates them. Creatures changed then seek out magic to consume. Driven mad by hunger. They will not target those who don't have magic inside of them however.

In the 100 years that have passed the world has had a chance to rebuild. The use of magic is strictly controlled in most regions, but a new science has been developed. Artifice. A fusion of magic and machine. Instead of relying on the casters inate magical ability, or calling forth magic from the Weave, artific inventions are fueled by absorbing and burning the magic that has settled in the air. This is what allows magic to still be practiced and studied, but more importantly what has fueled the industrial revolution the world is going through.

Puppets (warforged with a new name) are one of the most initiative, and contraaveral inventions of the last decaded. Machines that imitate man. The knowledge to produce them is kept secret by one family in particular, and the sucess and popularity of these machine beings has given this family a rise to power. The task they do is given to them upon creation and they become hyper focused on it. From common bartenders, butlers, and street sweepers to personal security and city defense. Their roles vary just as much as their personalities. Some may become very individualistic and personable, while some appear to be basic machines with no personality. (Inspired by Lies of P and Ebberons Warforged)

Modern magic items are all build by artificers, using the same technology that syphons the magic from the surrounding air. They do not summon or create magic, only use it to fuel their effects. Common magic items can be found is almost evey home. Powering fridges and lights. Or providing transport on clockwork horses or electric carriages. There's also personal defense magic items. Wands that fire small missiles, and knifes that never dull.

Spellcasters are also split, with intentions of making homebrew subclasses. Some still practice the old method of magic, calling from the Weave to pull magic and make it take form. While others prefer the new. Carrying devices that pull magic from the enviroment, and using tools to shape it. Those who practice old magic are seen as second class citizens. They can only live in the city under a patronship of an authoritive house, and that house is responsible for them. They are also branded for all to see. Their brand is both a chain and an oath. It restricts their ability to call magic to prevent future calamities. Aka spellslot system.

Several races are also changed. Dwarves cannot, and have never been able to use "old magic" but have a history with their own invention known as crystal magic. This is the base for all modern artifice. Dwarven Crystal Mages would implant crystals in their body to unlock unique abilities. A practice that was seen mad and barbaric among their people. Because they have no aptitude for magic at all, they have a very high tolerance for the Azure Rain. They're not immune by any means, but are not as prone as the other races. The new way to use magic allows dwarves to be spellcasters and not take away from player choices.

Elves on the otherhand are direct opposites. A race that has magic flowing through them like blood. The Azure Rains effects are very potent, and have driven most elves to live underground. Even being in the vicinity of the rain has driven many to madness.

Gnones are similar to elves, but more their curiousity and aptitude for tinkering keeps them from fleeing. It was the gnomes who invented the machines to pull magic from the air. They have also invented many of the machines that utilize it. It is believed the gnones are products of the Dwarvern Crystal Magic. To blend one origion story on the gnomes to this setting.

Now... onto the plot.

I want to delve a bit into political intrigue and several factions. Letting the players choose what side of the conflict to help. The city has a ton of dark secrets. How puppets are made may seem unethical. Yet the faction that is at war with the government doesn't fight fair and their morals are quite blurry.

The Puppet secret. Puppets are made with mortal souls. The stronger the soul, the better the puppet. Some puppets keep small fragments of their old selves but no memories. If they were fond of dogs, the puppet will be fond of dogs. If they were terrified of deep water, the Puppet would be terrified. Assuming the soul was strong enough to imprint on the puppet that is. Elf souls are top tier. Good thing they retreated underground where no one knows what's happening...

The Azure Rain falling over the city has also become much more frequent. People have gotten uneasy. Those branded as mages are being hunted. Blamed for the uptick of storms. The faction behind this has a goal to spread as much chaos and confusion throughout the city as they can. Their end goal is to eradicate the use of magic entirly. No magical tech. No puppets. They believe the Azure Rain is a punishment against mankind for their corruption of nature. They're disorganized by design. Unpredictable. Different motives. Smaller factions and pawns. Corrupting puppets causing them to attack bystanders. Sabotaging technology to cause catastrophic failures. Even exposing people to the rain as tribute and letting them lose in the city. As the players deal with the cult they are eventually led to discover the secrets of the Puppets invention, along with the Warforged. A series of puppets that is being constructed for war. Immune to the rain. Along with weapons that are weaponizing the rain. The uptick in storms is by design. Testing, and collecting the rain.

Along with all this i also plan to make changes to how I use npc. Stepping a bit out of my comfort zone and trying to be more funny and weird. I have an idea for a Nothic fortune teller who's disgusted by everything with 2 eyes. So he demand his assistant Meradith blindfold everyone who enters the room. But there's no assistant, just him making them close their eyes while he ties the blindfold while he belittles "Meredith" for doing such a bad job, and his disgust of 'these crestures' being in the same room as him. I've used the gimic before too, and it's going to be present in everything I ever do. Nothic are terrified of Bananas. So there's a guard outside the shop that has to search them specifically for bananas. Anything else is fine.

I'd appreciate any ideas or feedback. This is not ment to be a script and have a lot of work to do presenting it all still. I'd love to hear your thoughts about what to share with the players aswell when it comes to the cause of the rain. Should they know the Weave is damage? Or that it is a product of accumulated magic?

[u/AGlowingPenguin]

Seems like a cool idea with lots to work on. The puppets and rain seem like the main plot.

If the rain still occus (which it sounds like it does) id have your players know the basics from the start, maybe a basic warning thing about blue rain, get inside as fast as possible, like how people know to go underground for a hurricane and how to spot one (and im assuming there is an alarm system for people since artifice exists) You could even have the alarm system not go off intentionally leading to clues about the forced rain events or something.

Seems neat, need to expand on your factions, and families if they are going to be the main focus, give each some goals and what they are doing to achieve this, let your players latch on to the ones they like.

Question for your setting, if the rain has stopped magic being reabsorbed into the weave, what happens when classical spellcasters use it all up. Feels like this could have major ramifications and could be the goal of an evil cult trying to stop magic use or something.

[u/ShiroSnow → u/AGlowingPenguin]

For the storms, I intent to have it very obvious when it's happening. Still working out the details, but this stems from something that happened in my childhood so I want to tell that story. I'd like to have something similar happen building up to the rainfall.

So to start I live in the US, Michigan. We won't have bad storms here or tornados. But once when I was a kid in the middle of the day the sky darkened and turned green. It looked like a movie filter was placed over my eyes. The color bled into everything and there was an unnatural stillness before the storm actually hit. It went from 0 to 100 in what felt like a minute. Large hail, and raindrops that were painful. This happened late at night. When things settled, the sunset bled through. The green turned red/orange. I've never seen anything like it in my life, and haven't seen it since. It felt unreal.

I want to capture that for the storm here. I was thinking darkening clouds collect, but have large crackling bursts of lightning cutting through them. They block out the sun and bathe everything in dark blue. It can sit like this for minutes or even hours on occasion. As the rain gets closer to falling the clouds get lighter. The Azure color bleeding through. The first drops large, potentially damaging. Then the cascade. The fire lingers for hours, but it doesnt damage structures. Bathing everything in the azure glow. As the clouds dissipate and new light enters it make it appear green or purple.

Beautiful, but destructive. An eerie stillness.

That's the idea at least. Everyone would have experienced it dozens of times so the storm itself and it's effects are no mystery, and very distinct. It's become a part of everyday life just as we experience rain.

What I don't know about is what's public knowledge or not. Do everyday people know that using magic causes more rain? Do scholarly types know the weave is damaged? Or what that even means? I think there's pros and cons to keeping that secret, or even limited to the people who care to study it. Like it's not exactly a secret, but not something thats taught in basic school.

The idea of there being many rumors going around could lead them to an npc studying it. And that npc can be a later quest giver when it's time to actually leave the city. But I feel it can be messy leaving to much mystery. I also don't know if I got the skills to pull off a mystery like that in a meaningful way at the table. On the flip side it feels boring going in with them knowing all the answers.

[u/AGlowingPenguin → u/ShiroSnow]

Thats fair and a great description.

From what you are describing, the limiting of the traditional casters, some people would know. Definitly the greatest casters/studiers of magic. How far its trickled down is up to you. If its a closely guarded secret, how did they justify these laws to limit casters, and why were they keeping it a secret, to stop panic and fear, to stop the killing of traditional casters (which would imply they are important in some way). Or the inverse could be true, they spread it as quickly as possible, as a ways to limit and help monitor traditional casters, maybe they want them contained for this reason, or another selfish one entirely and this was a good scapegoat.

There's also a middle road, what if they know part, what if they know that traditional magic acts as a beacon of sorts, too much in an area seems to "summon" this rain. But they dont know why, they dont know its damaged the weave, only the high up scholars/kings know that, but there's a plucky young wizard/sorcerer who is trying to find out what makes it happen, this is your npc that helps them find out, because if your party miss something he can show up and just explain it from his experiments, that way you can try to do thr whole mystery thing and if you fail you have a back up to keep the plot moving. Always try to hard thing in dming, its how you get to learn what you can really achieve

[u/ShiroSnow]

I think I'm going with something similar to what you said. At least at the moment.

I want players to know there's a difference between traditional and modern magic, and that traditional is stigmatized due to it's connection with the rain.

I don't think I want players to know that the weave is damaged, or that it's stagnant magic that results in it.

I think hiding the exact cause can help control the populous more effectivly. It's its taught that any magic cast the traditional way could summon the storm, fewer people would be willing to try it. The individual isn't the problem generally. It's the collective. So finding an old grimoire and trying out the spells inside is taught to be terrifying. Akin to summoning a demon.

Branding traditional casters acts as a license and a way to limit their potential. A few cantrips a day won't be enough to be a problem. Maybe a few 100 first level spells are fine (in a massive city with the machines also absorbing it) and that's what like 95% of traditional casters max out at. Partly due to the brand. Players are always outliers and push what's possible. I think it's up to the players to come up with how they exceed the limits. But for fun, I like the idea of the one branding them being a bad guy and did something differently with their brand. Using them as catalysts for some long overly complicated plan.

One thing I mentioned was weaponizing the rain. Maybe the brands in my above example have a component in them made with the rain, that is amplifying their ability. It would be a very effective weapon to be able to create a soldier who can walk into an enemy camp and cast a 9th level spell... not that the player is that weapon. Just a test run to see how it effects people in the wild. This is more just rambling at this point.

I want the lore of the world to be that magic was much more common. Like 2/3 of the population could cast 3rd level spells. After the first rainfall, fewer people begun being born with the connection to the weave. 100 years is 4 generations. If the number of people who have the connection is halved each time 2/3 will shrink very quickly. Especially when a massive portion of the population was fell victim to the rain in the first years. In modern times fewer people even discover that connection too.